Rowing: O’Donovan brothers return to international fray

Paul and Gary O’Donovan will compete in their first international race as a lightweight double since the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when they lead the Ireland team into action at the World Cup Regatta in Serbia on Friday.

Two crews move directly to the semi-finals from each of three heats of the lightweight double, and the Olympic silver medallists will be odds-on to come out on top in their five-boat contest (10.50 Irish time). The Netherlands look like the one crew which could cause an upset.

The Ireland crew is the top-ranked in this competition, but when it comes to the shoot-out for medals come Sunday’s final, Coleraine man Peter Chambers and his crewmate

Will Fletcher, competing for Britain, will hope to topple the popular O’Donovans. Britain also put out a second lightweight double of Sam Mottram and Zac Lee-Green. These crews feature experienced oarsmen in what is generally a very young line-up, with only the O’Donovans sprinkled with Rio stardust.

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Dominic Casey, the Ireland lead coach, urged caution in making predictions. The build-up to the regatta has not been ideal for the O’Donovans. Their time on the water together has been limited, and Paul sat physiotherapy exams last weekend. The form of athletes is unknown at this stage.

“All countries are the same. It’s all an open book at the moment,” Casey said.

Straight final

The men’s lightweight pair of Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan will also compete as heavyweight pair, with a heat at 9.30.

Because of the the entry of just four crews in the lightweight pair, they progress to a straight final on Sunday – they will have two finals in less than an hour if they make sufficient progress as heavyweights.

Lightweight single sculler Denise Walsh starts the ball rolling for Ireland (9.05) and has a good chance of progressing from her heat.

Sanita Puspure has a tough heat. After her disappointing Olympics, where she finished 13th, she seemed fated to draw Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus and so it transpired.

Karsten beat her to the crucial third qualifying spot in a dramatic quarter-final in Rio and this is Puspure’s chance of taking some revenge on the woman who is exactly four weeks short of her 45th birthday.

However, just one competitor will go directly to the A Final, and that position should be taken by Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. Karsten may be a seven-time Olympian, but she finished 8th in Rio, while Lobnig made the A Final and took sixth. Puspure should still make the A Final, but most likely through Saturday’s repechages.

Back in Ireland on Saturday, the Castleconnell Sprint Regatta offers something different. It is run over 500 metres and is part of the Waterways Ireland league for young competitors. The entry is a record one of over 400 crews.

The O’Donovan name was prominent at the Portadown Regatta at the weekend. Alana O’Donovan of Bann won the women’s senior and club single sculls. And her namesakes, Gary and Paul, looked down from a poster in the clubhouse.