Rowing: Irish World Cup team to be named for Belgrade

The Ireland team for the first World Cup in Belgrade is set to be announced on Tuesday. The lightweight double of Paul and Gary O'Donovan and single sculler Sanita Puspure nailed down places in the Ireland trial at the National Rowing Centre, and there may be three other women's crews.

Shane O'Driscoll and Mark O'Donovan look set to compete as a heavyweight pair, though they were narrow winners in two of their three races against Patrick Boomer and Andy Harrington, who can now train at the NRC with the hope of coming into consideration for the final World Cup in Lucerne in July.

The option of a four was not tested, but has not been ruled out.

"Absolutely," said Antonio Maurogiovanni, the Ireland high performance director. "My philosophy is you have the athletes training hard, and [then] they make the crews. If you do not have the bricks you cannot make a home."