Photo by Seb Daly/SportsfileTipped as medal prospects, Ireland’s double crew of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne have had a nightmare Olympics. The sight of them crossing the line nearly 29 seconds behind semi-final winners France was testimony to their struggles on the Sea Forest Waterway. They were last in their heat on Friday, before they scraped into the semi-final via an unconvincing performance in the Repechage yesterday. But world champion Sanita Puspure gave an assured performance in the singles sculls quarter-final. So, the pressure was off and the Irish girls finished third – 14 seconds ahead of China - to keep their Olympic ambitions alive.

Source: Irish Independent July 25, 2021 06:45 UTC