Shock as coach is dropped

Mick Desmond, who coached the lightweight quadruple scull which won bronze at the Lucerne World Cup regatta earlier this month, has been controversially dropped from the Irish squad for next month's World Championships in St Catherine's, Canada. Briton Ray Sims will now coach the quad at the championships.

The decision to drop the coach, who has been involved with five medal-winning performances by Irish competitors at World Championships, came at an executive meeting of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union on Sunday, and left the Commercial man extremely dissatisfied. "I've been dropped and I haven't been told the reasons why," said Desmond last night.

Desmond has not fought shy of expressing forthright opinions on the workings of the rowing union, but according to Dermot Henihan, the chairman of the International Rowing Committee of the IARU who will manage the team for Canada, his effective replacement was because "the athletes made comments to the effect that they would prefer Ray Sims".

The squad to represent Ireland has one other surprise: the lightweight pair of Tony O'Connor and Neville Maxwell, who won gold at Lucerne, may also be asked to compete as heavyweights, with the aim of qualifying a boat for the Olympic Games in Sydney.

The lightweight double scull of Derek Holland and Niall O'Toole may also be added to the team. They compete at the Copenhagen regatta at the weekend, as do the lightweight double of Vanessa Lawrenson and Ruth Doyle, although their chances of making the team seem more remote.