# ROWING: Ireland's Sanita Puspure, who recently qualified for the Olympic Games, will compete at Henley Royal Regatta. The Old Collegians woman takes part in the World Cup in Munich this weekend.

Entries for Henley Royal Regatta (Irish interest)

Temple: Trinity

Remenham: UCD

Visitors’: Queen’s

Wyfold: Cork BC

Queen Mother: UCC/London RC

Prince Albert: Queen’s

Diamond Sculls: J Keohane (Lee Valley); C Williamson (Queen’s)

Princess Royal: S Puspure (Old Collegians)

# ROWING: Sanita Puspure is just a race away from qualifying for the Olympic Games. The Ireland single sculler finished third in her semi-final this morning behind Kim Crow of Australia and Iva Obradovic of Serbia to book her place in tomorrow’s A Final.

Olympic Qualification Regatta, Lucerne, Switzerland

Women’s Single Scull – Semi-Final One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Australia (K Crow) 7:32.83, 2 Serbia (I Obradovic) 7:37.99, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:41.27; 4 Norway (T Gjoertz) 7:42.55, 5 Ukraine (N Huba) 7:52.73, 6 Britain (R Gamble-Flint) 7:52.90. Semi-Final Two: 1 Denmark (FU Erichsen) 7:36.13, United States (G Stone) 7:39.48, Estonia (K Pajusalu) 7:42.79; France 7:48.85, 5 Latvia 8:02.96, 6 Bulgaria 8:03.05

#ROWING: Single sculler Sanita Puspure avoided a repechage by finishing second in her heat and moving directly into the A/B Semi-Finals of the Oympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne in Switzerland today. Puspure had just three hundredths of a second to spare over Tale Gjoertz of Norway for the crucial second spot behind Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark.

Olympic Qualification Regatta, Lucerne (Irish interest)

Women

Single Scull (First Two in Heats Straight to A/B Semi-Finals) – Heat One: 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 7:27.70, 2 Estonia (K Pajusalu) 7:34.28. Heat Two: 1 Australia (K Crowe) 7:29.48, 2 United States (G Stone) 7:32.00. Heat Three: 1 Denmark (F Erichsen) 7:32.66

2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:35.85; 3 Norway (T Gjoertz) 7:35.88, 4 Latvia (E Gulbe) 7:53.35, 5 Bulgaria (LM Rusinova) 7:58.28

#ROWING: Ireland’s Sanita Puspure finished fifth in the A Final of the single scull at the World Cup Regatta in Belgrade today. Puspure, tasting this level of competition in the single scull for the first time, mixed it with the world’s best in the early stages and was second after 500 metres. But as Zhang Xiuyun of China and world champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic set a hot pace at the head of the field, Puspure settled at the back. Zhang won gold, Knapkova silver and Nataliya Mustafayeva of Azerbaijan pipped Frida Svensson of Sweden for the bronze.

Iva Obradovic of host country Serbia was withdrawn due to medical reasons.

World Cup Regatta, Belgrade, Selected Results (Irish interest)

Sunday

Men

Lightweight Four – A Final: 1 Denmark 6:01.17, 2 Britain (P Chambers, R Williams, R Chambers, C Bartley) 6:02.23.

Single Scull – A Final: 1 Czech Republic 6:47.82, 2 Britain (A Campbell) 6:51.33.

Women

Single Scull – A Final: 1 China (X Zhang) 7:24.15, 2 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:27.55, 3 Azerbaijan (N Mustafayeva) 7:29.71; 4 Sweden (F Svensson) 7:30.77, 5 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:45.97. Serbia (I Obradovic) did not start.

#ROWING: Ireland's Sanita Puspure fought her way into the A Final of the single scull at the World Cup in Belgrade this afternoon. With Xiuyun Zhang and world champion Mirka Knapkova colonising the first two places, it became a race between Puspure and Kaisa Pajusalu for the crucial third qualifying spot. A push in the third quarter was decisive for Puspure, who held off a late challenge from Pajusalu and had almost five seconds to spare on the line. Pajusalu, a former world champion at under-23 level, was 12th in the world last year in this class. 

World Cup, Belgrade – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Scull – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Austria Two 6:24.17, 2 Austria Three 6:24.21, 3 Slovenia Two 6:26.16, 4 Croatia 6:26.66, 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:26.67, 6 Austria One 6:27.57.

Lightweight Single – C Final: Ireland (M Maher) did not start.

Women

Single Scull – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 China (X Zhang) 7:18.59, 2 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:18.81, 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:27.27; 4 Estonia (K Pajusalu) 7:32.15, 5 Serbia Two (I Filipovic) 7:43.16, 6 Ukraine (N Huba) 7:48.97.

Lightweight Single Scull – Repechage (First Four to A/B Semi-Final): 1 Switzerland (P Weisshaupt) 7:55.81, 2 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:57.35, 3 Sweden One (C Lilja) 7:58.63, 4 Croatia (H Pavkovic) 8:01.57; 5 Sweden Two (L Kalstroem) 8:06.42.

ROWING: Ireland will have three finalists tomorrow (Sunday) at the Memorial Paolo D’Aloja international regatta in Piediluco in Italy. Sanita Puspure, in the women’s single scull, and the lightweight double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny won their heats today, and Michael Maher was third in his heat of the lightweight single scull. Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta, Piediluco, Italy, Saturday (Heats for Sunday’s Finals) Men Double Sculls – Heat Three: 4 Queen’s (C Williamson, R O’Connor) 6:40.57. Lightweight Double Scull – Heat Two: 1 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.34. Lightweight Single Scull – Heat One: 1 Greece 7:18.24; 5 Ireland (J Ryan) 7:27.79. Heat Two: 1 Italy 7:13.87; 3 Ireland (M Maher) 7:21.75; 4 Queen’s (D Evans) 7:28.86. Women Single Sculls – Heat Two: 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:01.06.

ROWING: Ireland’s two Olympic-class crews, the lightweight men’s double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny and single sculler Sanita Puspure, qualified for today’s first day of finals at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja in Piediluco. Both finished second in their heats. Justin Ryan’s third place in the heat of the lightweight single scull also saw him qualify.

 The lightweight women's double scull of Claire Lambe and Siobhan McCrohan, who were entered in this event, were withdrawn and will also not go forward to the Olympic Qualifier next month. The head of the High Performance programme, Martin McElroy, said the crew had had consistent difficulities with making the required weight.

Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta, Piediluco, Italy

Heats (first three to today’s finals)

Men

Double Sculls – Heat One 1 Italy Four 6:35.41; 6 Queen’s University (Ireland) 6:56.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Two: 1 Portugal 6:53.66, 2 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:55.08.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One: 1 Italy (L Bertini) 7:46.06; 3 Ireland (J Ryan) 7:52.75; 4 Queen’s (D Evans) 7:57.75. Heat Two: 4 Ireland (M Maher) 7:51.85.

Women

Single Sculls – Heat One: 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 8:19.01 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:24.84.

ROWING: Under-23 athlete Justin Ryan won the men’s A Final of the single sculls at the Irish Assessment Regatta at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. Fellow lightweights Michael Maher and Justin Ryan were second and third.

Sanita Puspure was dominant in the women’s single, where surprise packet Bridget Jacques, who is just 17, took second.

Sean O’Connor and Eddie Mullarkey of NUIG, an under-23 crew, beat Bann juniors Chris Black and Joel Cassells into second in the men’s pair. The Bann pair have not competed this season as Black has had glandular fever.

The A Final of the women’s pair, an all-junior affair, was won by Hanna McCarthy and Hanna O’Sullivan of St Michael’s after a terrific battle to the line with Brooke Edgar and Emily Hutchinson of Bann.

ROWING: Today’s semi-final stages of the National Assessment regatta at the National Rowing Centre in Cork provided the stage for good wins for Sanita Puspure in the women’s single, and Justin Ryan and Michael Maher in the men’s single. Junior athlete Paul O’Donovan was second to Ryan in his semi.

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT REGATTA, NRC, Cork

Selected Results (includes projected per centage of gold-medal winning time in athletes’ class)

Men

Pair – Time Trial: 1 J Cassells/C Black (junior) 6:43.9 (91.9), 2 S O’Connor/E Mullarkey (under-23) 6:45.0 (89.5), 3 H Millar/L Seaman (junior) 6:50.1 (90.5), 4 F McQuillan-Tolan/J Egan (junior) 6:58.6 (58.6), 5 W Yeomans/C O’Riada (junior) 6:59.8 (88.4), 6 G Thornton/C Alcorn (junior) 7:00.5 (88.3).

Pair – A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Cassells/Black 7:07.0 (91.5 per cent), 2 F McQuillan-Tolan/Egan 7:16.7 (89.4), 3 Yeomans/O’Riada 7:18.6. Semi-Final Two: 1 O’Connor/Mullarkey 7:08.6 (89.0), 2 Millar/Seaman 7:14.5 (89.9), 3 Thornton/Alcorn 7:21.0 (88.6).

Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 J Ryan (lightweight) 6:57.1 (93.4), 2 A English (lightweight) 6:59.0 (90.7), 3 M Maher (lightweight) 7:00.5 (90.4), 4 P O’Donovan (junior) 7:03.7 (92.3), 5 Jonathan Mitchell (under-23 lightweight) 7:03.9 (91.9), 6 D Quinlan (junior) 7:07.6 (91.5), 7 A Griffin (junior) 7:10.1 (90.9)

Single – A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Ryan 7:23.3 (92.5), 2 O’Donovan 7:24.1 (92.7), 3 Jonathan Mitchell 7:25.2 (92.1). Semi-Final Two: 1 Maher 7:19.8 (90.9), 2 English 7:21.5, 3 Quinlan 7:31.4 (91.2).

Women

Pair - Time Trial (all juniors): 1 J McCarthy/H O’Sullivan 7:42.7 (88.4), 2 B Edgar/E Hutchinson 7:44.5 (88.0), 3 R Gilligan/L McHugh 7:52.6 (86.5).

Single Sculls – Time Trial: 1 S Puspure (heavyweight) 7:23.2 (91.1), 2 M Dukarska (under-23) 7:41.1 (89.6), 3 H Shinnick (junior) 7:47.8 (90.6), 4 B Jacques (junior) 7:48.9 (90.4), 5 S Dolan (under-23 lightweight) 7:51.7 (90.8), 6 K Cromie (junior) 7:54.3.

Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One: 1 Puspure 7:59.3 (88.7), 2 Dolan 8:15.2 (91.1), 3 Jacques 8:17.1 (89.7). Semi-Final Two: 1 Dukarska 8:09.1 (88.9), 2 Shinnick 8:15.6 (90.0), 3 Cromie 8:19.6 (89.3).