#Rowing: Sanita Puspure won her C/D semi-final to progress to the C Final at the Olympic Games regatta in Rio de Janeiro today. The 34-year-old single sculler was in control through the key stages and won by over 12 seconds from Michelle Pearson from Bermuda.

 Puspure was unfortunate to lose her chance of an A/B semi-final place when she was drawn in a very tough quarter-final. Kim Brennan and Duan Jingli, who finished ahead of the Ireland sculler in the quarter-final won the A/B semi-finals.  

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure just missed out on a semi-final place at the Olympic Games today. The 34-year-old was in a remarkably tough quarter-final, with World Champion Kimberley Brennan leading the others out and winning well. Seven-time Olympian Ekaterina Karsten tracked Brennan down the course, with Duan Jingli holding third. Puspure slipped into fourth and while she made a spirited challenge in the final stages, she just could not quite catch Karsten or the Chinese sculler.  

Alan Campbell qualified for the men's single semi-finals. The Coleraine man, competing for Britain, finished second in his quarter-final. He was just under five seconds behind the winner, Damir Martin of Croatia.

Olympic Games Regatta, Rio de Janeiro (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Single Sculls - Quarter-Final Four (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 2 Britain (A Campbell) 6:49.41.

Women

Single Sculls - Quarter-Finals - (First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals):

Quarter-Final One: 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:31.79, 2 Czech Republic (M Topinkova-Knapkova) 7:37.04, 3 Mexico (K Lechuga Alanis) 7:44.11.

Quarter-Final Two: 1 United States (G Stone) 7:27.04, 2 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:29.66, 3 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:35.37.

Quarter-Final Three: 1 Denmark (F Udby Erichsen) 7:33.24, 2  Zimbabwe (M Thornycroft) 7:34.00, 3 Canada (C Zeeman) 7:34.00.

Quarter-Final Four:  1 Australia (K Brennan) 7:26.86, 2 China (J Duan) 7:27.88, 3 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:28.03; 4 Ireland (S Puspure)  7:28.68, 5 Lithuania 7:38.39, 6 Argentina 7:56.61.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure qualified a third Ireland boat for the Olympic Games today. The 34-year-old single sculler took the second of four Rio places at the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne. Emma Twigg had her expected win in the event, and Puspure held fifth through 500 metres and half way. However, by the three-quarter mark the Ireland sculler was third behind Twigg and Fie Udby Erichsen, and she moved into second by the finish. Ekaterina Karsten took the third qualification place and Erichsen the final one.

Olympic Qualification Regatta, Lucerne, Switzerland (Irish interest; selected results)

Women

Single Sculls – Final (First Four Qualify for Olympic Games): 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:21.87, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:24.76, 3 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:25.94, 4 Denmark (F Erichsen)  7:26.47; 5 Ukraine 7:28.61, 6 Latvia 7:43.84.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure has qualified for the final of the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Ireland single sculler finished second in the semi-final behind Emma Twigg of New Zealand, with Elza Gulbe of Latvia taking the third qualification place. Twigg and Puspure were clear in the first and second places from early on, with Gulbe making third her own in the second half, well clear of the other three contenders, from Russia, Spain and Norway.

 Denmark’s Fie-Udby Erichsen of Denmark won the second semi-final, with Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and Nataliya Dovgodko of Ukraine taking the other final places.

 The first four scullers in tomorrow’s final will book their places at the Olympic Games.  

Olympic Qualification Regatta, Lucerne, Switzerland (Irish interest; selected results)

Women

Single Sculls – Semi-Finals (Three to A Final) – Semi-Final One: 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:36.75, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:40.46, 3 Latvia (E Gulbe) 7:46.69. Semi-Final Two: 1 Denmark (F Erichsen) 7:37.09, 2 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:41.89, 3 Ukraine (N Dovgodko) 7:42.18

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure took a bronze medal at the European Rowing Championships in Brandenburg in Germany, giving Ireland a second podium finish on a day in which the men’s lightweight double had taken gold. In awful conditions, Magdalena Lobnig of Austria took control of the race and won by almost 17 seconds from Elza Gulbe of Latvia, who took over second from Puspure when she missed a stroke at about 1600 metres. Puspure held off double Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten, who was fourth. 

European Rowing Championships, Brandenburg, Germany – Day Three (Irish interest; selected results):

Men

Lightweight Four – A Final: 2 Britain (4 P Chambers).

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:57.76, 2 Germany 6:59.54, 3 Norway 7:00.52.  

Lightweight Pair – A Final: 1 Britain (S Scrimgeour, J Cassells) 7:00.38, 2 Denmark 7:03.94, 3 Spain 7:05.32; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll)  7:09.67

Women

Quadruple Sculls – A Final: 5 Britain (3 H Nixon).

Lightweight Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Sweden 7:27.70, 2 Britain 7:27.99, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 7:30.28.

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:22.32, 2 Latvia (E Gulbe) 7:39.10, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 9:44.77.

Lightweight Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Germany (A Noske) 8:26.75, 2 Denmark 8:32.54, 3 Netherlands 8:37.05; 4 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:42.93.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure came from sixth to take the bronze medal at the World Cup Regatta in Varese. Carling Zeeman of Canada cut loose in the final quarter to win a surprise gold, with Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus holding off the fast-finishing Puspure to take silver.  

World Cup Regatta, Varese, Italy – Day Three (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 South Africa 6:41.13, 2 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:41.36, 3 Belgium 6:44.12; 4 Netherlands One 6:44.29, 5 Spain 6:49.1, 6 Denmark 6:55.17.  

Women

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Canada (C Zeeman) 7:49.41, 2 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:50.97, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:51.40; 4 Switzerland 7:52.17, 5 Belarus Two 7:56.22, 6 China 7:57.53.

#Rio2016 - Afloat's Rower of the Year for 2014 Sanita Puspure has her sights set on the European Championships next month, the next big step towards qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

In the latest update on her progress for the Olympic Council of Ireland, the single sculls rower and scholarship athlete – who competed for Ireland at London 2012 – did not have the best performance at her most recent regatta in Italy due to illness.

But the last few months of training, following a few setbacks, have gone "really well" – and the training continues towards the World Championships coming in August, at which only nine rowers will qualify for Rio.

"We are going to test ourselves in the World Cup 3 in Switzerland in July before we head to fight for qualifying places," she says. "But in the meantime it's a 'one step at a time' approach. Training hard, dreaming big."

#rowing – Sanita Puspure recorded another notable win yesterday. She was part of the fastest eight at the Head of the Charles in Boston. The Great Eight, made up of a selection of the best scullers in the world, was much faster than the U.S. Eight.

Puspure also competed in the double sculls. Her fourth place finish there came about after a five second penalty was applied. The crew, in which she teamed up with Carling Zeeman of Canada, had originally finished third.

#ROWING: The Afloat Rower of the Month for August is Sanita Puspure. The Old Collegians oarswoman took fourth place at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam in the single sculls, just outside the medals in this elite discipline. She had won her heat, placed second in the quarter-final and third in a semi-final where conditions were very difficult.

The performance topped off an outstanding season for this gritty competitor. She started her run with silver medals on both days of the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja regatta in Italy in April. She took a bronze medal at the European Championships – a breakthrough for an Ireland heavyweight woman – and then made the A Final at the World Cup regatta in Aiguebelette, and won the B Final at Lucerne.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2014. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2014 champions list grow.

#ROWING: Ireland’s encouraging campaign at the World Rowing Championships ended with another remarkable result today. Sanita Puspure took fourth in the women’s single sculls, just 1.17 seconds off a medal in this high-profile discipline. Emma Twigg of New Zealand won gold, vanquishing her Australian rival Kim Crow, who took silver. Duan Jingli of China made third her own for the second half of the race. But Puspure, who was fourth by four seconds at 1500 metres, threw everything she had into the last 250 metres.  She closed fast on the Chinese and was just half a boatlength behind her on the line.  

World Rowing Championships, Day Eight (Irish interest, selected results):

Men

Lightweight Four – A Final: 1 Denmark 5:47.15, 2 New Zealand 5:48.76, 3 Britain (M Aldred, P Chambers, R Chambers, C Bartley) 5:49.58.

Women

Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Netherlands 5:06.20, 2 Russia 5:09.13, 3 Germany 5:09.17, 4 Ukraine 5:14.12, 5 Ireland (H Hannigan, M Dukarska) 5:16.36, 6 Denmark 5:16.55.

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:14.95, 2 Australia (K Crow) 7:17.33, 3 China (Jingli Duan) 7:22.57; 4 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:23.74, 5 Austria 7:32.04, 6 Russia 7:36.64.