#ROWING: Sanita Puspure was Ireland's success story on the first day of the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade today. She won a battle with Norway’s Tale Gjoertz  to finish second behind local woman Iva Obradovic in her heat and qualify directly for the A/B Semi-Final of the single scull.

The three other Ireland crews in action all face into repechages. Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny finished fourth in their heat of the lightweight double sculls, over 10 seconds behind the winners, China. In the lightweight single sculls, Michael Maher finished fifth in his heat and Claire Lambe second in hers.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Single Scull – Heat Two (Winner to A/B Semi-Final): 1 Britain (A Campbell) 6:57.43.

Lightweight Double Scull – Heat Four (Winner to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 China (C Wu, F Zhang) 6:22.40, 2 Greece 6:26.19, 3 Austria Four 6:32.40, 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:32.96, 5 Austria Two 6:37.47.

Lightweight Single Scull – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 France Two 7:07.89, 2 Norway Three 7:11.01, 3 Greece 7:11.15, 4 Egypt 7:18.82, 5 Ireland (M Maher) 7:24.05.

Women

Single Scull – Heat Three (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechages): 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 7:29.83, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:34.28; 3 Norway (T Gjoertz) 7:34.70, 4 Lithuania (D Vistartaite) 7:58.31, 5 Austria (L Farthofer) 8:01.66.

Lightweight Single Scull – Heat One (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain (K Twyman) 7:49.69; 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:54.91, 3 Austria Two 8:00.09, 4 Croatia 8:00.85.