Irish team weakened

The absence of the men's lightweight coxless four will weaken the Irish team for the first World Cup regatta at Hazewinkel in Belgium which begins today.

Weather conditions had badly affected the four's preparations and an injury to Brendan Dolan which only cleared up this week made them decide against travelling.

Their coach, John Holland, has also remained in Dublin - and indeed has given up his role as a fulltime coach. Holland had taken early retirement from Telecom Eireann to coach, but in the absence of funding for the role he has returned to paid work and will coach on a part-time basis.

This situation seems very much at odds with the brave new sporting vista, where Ireland plays on a level playing pitch with the rest of the world, suggested by the Minister for Sport, Dr Jim McDaid.

Back in Belgium, an interesting point is that Ireland will now be represented entirely by scullers, except for the men's lightweight pair of Donal McGuinness and Emmet O'Brien - reflecting a trend in Irish rowing.

There will now be two lightweight women's double sculls, with Ailis Holohan and Audrey Phelan joining Vanessa Lawrenson and Ruth Doyle. The Irish women's lightweight quadruple scull will not compete as the number of entries was too low to yield a meaningful race.

The pattern of today's racing is something of an experiment. The morning heats will yield a fastest boat which will go directly into the semi-finals, but the rest of the competitors will take part in repechages only hours later, rather than the following day.