# CANOEING; Eoin Rheinisch qualified for the semi-finals of the Olympic Games with a fine first run in the K1 canoe slalom heats. Fifteen off the 22 competitors went through, and Rheinisch will go off 12th on Wednesday.

His first run of 89.97 placed him sixth – though team manager Karl Dunne had to launch an immediate objection to remove a penalty of two seconds given wrongly for a supposed touch on gate 19. Rheinisch could not improve on that in the second run – he had another penalty-free paddle, but clocked 90.72 seconds. His first run was enough to see him through in heats won by Hannes Aigner of Germany, who clocked a superb 83.49 seconds in his second run on a technically difficult course.

Benjamin Boukpeti, the man who went off last in the Olympics in Beijing and pushed Rheinisch out of bronze medal position, qualified in 14th, and Richard Hounslow of Britain had to produce a good run under pressure to qualify in 11th. Among those eliminated were Scott Parsons of the United States and Warwick Draper of Australia.

Olympic Games – Canoe Slalom: Men’s K1 Heats (Irish interest): 1 Germany (H Aigner; 2nd run) 83.49; 12 Ireland (E Rheinisch) 89.97.

# ROWING: Sanita Puspure qualified for the quarter-finals of the women’s single scull at the Olympic Games today. The 30-year-old needed to finish in the top four to qualify and she finished in a comfortable third place, behind impressive winner Emma Twigg of New Zealand and Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania.

Coleraine men Richard and Peter Chambers had an excellent start to their Olympic campaign in the British lightweight four. They were led by Australia until the final 500 metres, but a big push by Britain made all the difference. They passed the Australians and moved away to win well.

Alan Campbell also won his heat of the single scull. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand were also impressive winners.

Olympic Games, London

Women’s Single Scull – Heats (First Four Directly through to Quarter-Finals; rest to repechages).

Qualifiers – Heat One: 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:40.24, 2 Lithuania (D Vistartaite) 7:43.07, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:49.35, 4 Brazil (K da Costa) 8:07.75. Heat Two: 1 Australia (K Crow) 7:41.18, 2 Azerbaijan (N Mustafayeva) 7:46.01, 3 Zimbabwe (M Thornycroft) 7:47.10, 4 Cuba (Y Cobas) 7:48.58. Heat Three: 1 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:24.17, 2 Denmark (FU Erichsen) 7:29.37, 3 Germany (ML Draeger) 7:44.23, 4 Thailand (PN Rodenburg) 7:52.62. Heat Four: 1 China (X Zhang) 7:21.49, 2 Sweden (F Svensson) 7:32.61, 3 Paraguay (G Mosqueira Benitez) 7:52.07, 4 Japan (H Sakakibara) 7:52.98. Heat Five: 1 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:30.31, 2 Russia (J Levina) 7:32.06, 3 United States (G Stone) 7:33.68, 4 Mexico (D Oakley Gonzalez) 8:00.17.  

# ROWING: Ireland's sole rowing Olympian, Sanita Puspure, has a reasonably good draw in Saturday's first heat of the single scull (1.30). She is set to compete in lane six, with lane five taken by Emma Twigg of New Zealand, a bronze medallist in the last two World Championships. The woman who finished ninth at the 2011 World Championships, Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania, is in lane two, while Iran (lane one), Argentina (three) and Brazil (four) compete the draw. Four of the six will go directly into the Quarter-Finals on Tuesday.

# ROWING: Ireland’s Brooke Edgar and Aoife Cooper, who took silver on Saturday, had to settle for fourth in the pairs race at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Spain today. They were challenging for second until the closing stages, but Italy and Britain took the silver and bronze behind Spain, who led all the way down the course.

The Ireland men’s four and double scull took sixth, while the men’s quadruple were second in their B Final and the women’s quadruple third in theirs.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Banyoles (Day Two, Irish interest)

Men

Four – Heat Two: 3 Millar/Seaman/Tolan/Egan 6:32.73. A Final: 6 Ireland 6:51.07.

Sculling, Quadruple – Heat One: 4 Ireland 6:16.04. B Final: 2 Ireland 6:22.74

Double – Heat Two: 1 Griffin/Quinlan 6:46.38. A Final: 6 Ireland 7:00.90

Women

Pair – Heat Two: 2 Edgar/Cooper 8:05.60. A Final: 4 Ireland 7:50.47.

Sculling, Quadruple – Heat One: 5 Ireland 7:14.80. B Final: 3 Ireland 7:15.96.

# ROWING: Wales sprung a surprise by winning the men’s senior category at the Home Countries’ International Regatta in Cardiff. England had over a decade of dominance in this class at the event. Ireland had eight race wins, and finished second in the senior women's class and  third in the junior men's - just two points off winners England.  Ireland’s senior women won in the quadruple, double and single sculls and the junior men won quadruple, double and coxless fours. The junior women won the single scull (Ella Cialis). Ireland’s senior men’s quadruple won in an extremely tight finish.

Home Countries’ International Regatta, Cardiff, Saturday

Final Team Positions

Men, Senior: 1 Wales 36 points, 2 England 25, 3 Ireland 22, 4 Scotland 14. Junior: 1 England 22, 2 Wales 21, 3 Ireland 20, 4 Scotland 6.

Women, Senior: 1 England 34, 2 Ireland 27, 3 Wales 20, 4 Scotland 16. Junior: 1 England 24, 2 Scotland 18, 3 Ireland 15, 4 Wales 14.

 ROWING: Ireland took a silver medal at the Coupe de la Jeunesse today in Banyoles in Spain. The Bann/Muckross pair of Brooke Edgar and Aoife Cooper rowed really well in the final 500 metres to press winners Spain and give the crowd something to cheer as the rest of the crews fell off the pace. Italy took the bronze medal.

Ireland also had a fifth placing for the men's quadruple and a sixth for the men's four.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Banyoles (Day One, Irish interest)

Men

Four – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 H Millar, L Seaman, F Tolan, J Egan 6:29.56. A Final: 6 Ireland 6:37.93.

Sculling, Quadruple – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 A Burns, J Mitchell, J Casey, P Hegarty 6:07.86. A Final: 5 Ireland 6:26.08

Double – Heat One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 4 A Griffin, D Quinlan 6:44.13

Women

Pair – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 B Edgar, A Cooper 7:48.54. A Final: 1 Spain 7:44.93, 2 Ireland 7:48.95, 3 Italy 7:53.07.

Quadruple – Heat One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 5 A Crowley, L Litvack, S Allen, S Higgins 7:12.19. B Final: 3 Ireland 7:19.05.

# ROWING: Three of Ireland’s five crews qualified for A Finals on the first day of the Coupe de la Jeunesse, the European junior rowing tournament, in Banyoles in Spain today. The men’s four, men’s quadruple scull and women’s pair all finished third in their heats and will be in the hunt for medals later today.

Coupe de la Jeunesse, Banyoles (Irish interest)

Men

Four – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 H Millar, L Seaman, F Tolan, J Egan 6:29.56.

Sculling, Quadruple – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 A Burns, J Mitchell, J Casey, P Hegarty 6:07.86.

Double – Heat One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 4 A Griffin, D Quinlan 6:44.13

Women

Pair – Heat One (Three to A Final): 3 B Edgar, A Cooper 7:48.54.

Quadruple – Heat One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 5 A Crowley, L Litvack, S Allen, S Higgins 7:12.19.

# ROWING: Ireland’s Claire Lambe had a bronze medal snatched from her in the final stages of the A Final of the lightweight single sculls at the World Under-23 Championships at Trakai in Lithuania this morning. Anna Ioannou of Cyprus came from fourth to pass the Dubliner in the final charge. Alena Kryvaseyenka of Belarus dominated the race, while Sweden's Emma Fred took silver.

Ireland had good results in the B Finals of two other women’s events. Holly Nixon and Laura D’Urso won their B Final (placing seventh overall) and Lisa Dilleen was second in the women’s single sculls B Final (eighth overall). The Galway woman made a great drive right at the finish and missed out on winning by .4 of a second.

World Under-23 Championships, Trakai, Lithuania (Irish interest)

Women

Double Scull - B Final (places 7-12): 1 Ireland (L D’Urso, H Nixon) 7:28.40, 2 Switzerland 7:33.73, 3 Germany 7:35.55, 4 United States 7:38.89, 5 Italy 7:43.72, 6 Romania 7:52.93.

Single Scull – B Final (places 7-12): 1 Hungary (K Gyimes) 8:07.40, 2 Ireland (L Dilleen) 8:07.74, 3 Bulgaria (L-M Rusinova) 8:13.74, 4 Netherlands 8:13.79, 5 Poland 8:15.57, 6 France 8:23.58.

Lightweight Single Scull – A Final: 1 Belarus (A Kryvasheyenka) 8:09.34, 2 Sweden (E Fred) 8:19.40, 3 Cyprus (A Ioannou) 8:22.85, 4 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:24.42, 5 Netherlands 8:28.67, 6 South Africa 8:33.66.

# ROWING: Claire Lambe gave Ireland an A Finalist at the World Under-23 Championships in Lithuania today. The Dubliner finished second in her lightweight single scull semi final.

Ireland’s two other women’s crews will compete in B Finals tomorrow. The double scull of Laura D’Urso and Holly Nixon were edged out by Russia in their semi-final and finished fourth, while Lisa Dilleen finished fifth in the semi-final of the open weight single scull.

World Under-23 Championships, Trakai, Lithuania, Day Four (Irish interest)

Men

Four – B Final (Places 7-12): 1 Croatia 6:30.64, 2 Norway 6:34.03, 3 Canada 6:34.42, 4 Czech Republic 6:36.93, 5 Ireland (E Mullarkey, S O’Connor, F Manning, T Lynam) 6:43.49, 6 Ukraine 6:48.40.

Lightweight Pair – B Final (Places 7-12): 1 Argentina 7:39.53, 2 Belarus 7:43.85, 3 Ireland (S O’Driscoll, J Mitchell) 7:46.27.

Women

Double Scull - Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Austria 7:41.52, 2 Belarus 7:43.12, 3 Russia 7:48.57; 4 Ireland (L D’Urso, H Nixon) 7:51.91, 5 Germany 7:54.64, 6 Romania 8:09.87.

Single Scull - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Canada 8:37.30, 2 Britain 8:38.26, 3 Latvia 8:41.18; 4 Netherlands 8:42.82, 5 Ireland (L Dilleen) 9:06.17, 6 France 9: 20.29.

Lightweight Single Scull – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Sweden (E Fred) 8:48.68, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:54.91, 3 South Africa (K Johnstone) 8:57.92; 4 France 9:02.13, 5 Paraguay 9:09.78, 6 Germany 9:13.09.

#ROWING: Ireland’s Jonny Mitchell and Shane O’Driscoll finished third in the B Final of the lightweight pair at the World Under-23 Championships in Lithuania. This placed them ninth overall. Argentina, who disputed the lead with Switzerland in the first half of the race, took over in the second, as Switzerland faded. Belarus came through to take second.

The men’s four finished fifth in their B Final (11th overall) in a race won by Croatia. Norway, disputing fourth with Ireland until the final quarter, finished well and took second.

World Under-23 Championships, Trakai, Lithuania

Men

Four – B Final (Places 7-12): 1 Croatia 6:30.64, 2 Norway 6:34.03, 3 Canada 6:34.42, 4 Czech Republic 6:36.93, 5 Ireland (E Mullarkey, S O’Connor, F Manning, T Lynam) 6:43.49, 6 Ukraine 6:48.40.

Lightweight Pair – B Final (Places 7-12): 1 Argentina 7:39.53, 2 Belarus 7:43.85, 3 Ireland (S O’Driscoll, J Mitchell) 7:46.27.