ROWING: The Ireland lightweight men’s double took a bronze medal and Sanita Puspure finished fifth in the women’s single on the first day of A Finals at the Memorial Paolo D’Aloja international regatta in Piediluco in Italy today.
This was a first medal in a senior event for the lightweight double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny, who hope to represent Ireland at next month’s Olympic Qualifier in Lucerne. They did it by maintaining a high rate through a race which was won by Nuno Mendes and Pedro Fraga of Portugal – a crew which qualified for London 2012 by finishing 10th at last year’s World Championships.
Puspure, who is also targeting the Qualifiers, finished third in a group of three which disputed third in the closing stages of her race, with a second covering all three crews. The race was won by Serbia’s Iva Obradovic.
Justin Ryan finished fourth in the A Final of the lightweight single scull. The race was won by Lorenzo Bertini of Italy.
Memorial Paolo D’Aloja International Regatta, Piediluco, Italy
Day Two - Saturday (Selected Results)
Men
Lightweight Double Scull – A Final: 1 Portugal (N Mendes, P Fraga) 6:30.21, 2 Spain 6:32.14, 3 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:34.26.
Lightweight Single Scull – A Final: 1 Italy Two (L Bertini) 7:11.50, 2 Italy (L La Padula) 7:14.10, 3 Egypt (AM Massoud) 7:18.50; 4 Ireland (J Ryan) 7:24.39.
Women
Single Scull – A Final: 1 Serbia (I Obradovic) 7:36.94, 2 Lithuania (D Vistartaite) 7:42.03, 3 Sweden (F Svensson) 7:45.34); 4 Serbia (I Filipovic) 7:46.18, 5 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:46.20.
