The first World Cup event of the rowing season began yesterday in Belgrade. Having wintered together in Australia and New Zealand, two Skibbereen double-acts now face very different challenges. Gary and Paul O’Donovan are on top of the world to be shot down, while Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan must summon the appetite to survive the biggest test of their careers.

The first World Cup event of the rowing season began yesterday in Belgrade. Having wintered together in Australia and New Zealand, two Skibbereen double-acts now face very different challenges. Gary and Paul O’Donovan are on top of the world to be shot down, while Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan must summon the appetite to survive the biggest test of their careers.

The National Rowing Centre was tranquil as the water on sun-kissed Inniscarra Lake yesterday with Ireland’s top rowers putting on a united front to launch the international regatta season and kickstart new Rowing Ireland chief executive Michelle McElligott Carpenter’s reign.

A bumper weekend of racing is in store in Cork as the 2017 Irish Rowing Championships take place at the National Rowing Centre from tomorrow through to Sunday. 

The World Rowing Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, presents Ireland’s seniors with a final chance to test themselves before the year’s main event, the World Rowing Championships in September.

If last weekend’s Cork Regatta is a reliable barometer, the National Championships next month (July 14-16) will draw unprecedented entries to the National Rowing Centre at Farran, Cork.

Europe’s shares climbed the most in a month, with banks posting their biggest surge since October 2011, on optimism that China’s economy is stabilising at last.

Mario Draghi is having no success convincing stock investors that the European Central Bank has the firepower to reignite growth ahead of today’s ECB meeting.

Paul O’Donovan (21) and his brother Gary (22) will compete in the lightweight men’s doubles at the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, next week with a view to claiming one of the top 11 spots and, with it, a ticket to next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The families of three Britons killed in the French Alps plane disaster have spoken of their devastating loss.

The shock announcement on Sunday that Fionnuala Britton will run in the marathon at the European Championships on August 16 is a high-risk strategy which has raised eyebrows in the athletics community.

It’s a weekend for the great outdoors with fingers crossed for fine weather and lots of events in the south-west for locals and tourists.

NUIG/Gráinne Mhaol took their third consecutive senior eight at the Irish Rowing Championships in the National Rowing Centre, Farran Woods, yesterday.

A Dutch prison has been transformed into a luxury hotel.

A worker shot dead two colleagues then himself in the canteen of a Swiss factory today.

At least three people have been shot dead and several others injured after a gunman opened fire in the canteen of a Swiss factory.

It was always going to be difficult to repeat his semi-final faring in Beijing.

A DAY of ifs, buts and maybes for Irish rower Sanita Puspure as her Olympic dream came to an end in the toughest of the morning’s single sculls quarter-finals yesterday.

A little over 12 months ago Ireland’s rowing team manager, Martin McElroy, sat in a plush conference room at the top table of a London Olympic briefing.

Six years ago Sanita Puspure was working as a shop assistant in Dublin.

Sanita Puspure is the latest athlete to join Ireland’s Olympic Games tilt in the summer.

Such is the Disneyesque look and feel of the Swiss lakeside city of Lucerne that one almost expects to encounter Beauty and the Beast’s Belle sauntering through its medieval streets with her nose stuck in a book, studiously avoiding the overbearing advances of the otherwise curiously attractive Gaston.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will continue her build up to the world championships in Daegu and, ultimately, next year’s Olympic Games when she lines up for the 100m hurdles in Budapest tomorrow.

JASON SMYTH will have the qualifying standard for next year’s Olympic Games on his mind when he lines up for the 100m at tonight’s Classic meeting in Lucerne.

PAUL HESSION found plenty of reasons to smile after Saturday’s trip to the Cork City Sports.

PAUL HESSION faces his first big test of the season when he lines up for the 200m at Cork City Sports today in a field that includes Alonso Edward (Panama), silver medallist behind Usain Bolt at the World Championships in Berlin two years ago when the Jamaican shaved .11 of a second off the world record he set at the Olympic Games in Beijing the previous year.

PAUL HESSION may have lost his winning streak but he maintained his form in Lucerne last night where he finished fifth in the 200m in 20.75 secs.

DAVID GILLICK went to within one hundredth of a second of the biggest win of his career when he chased Chris Brown from the Bahamas across the line in the 400m at last night’s Golden League meeting in Rome.

Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene today confirmed Oscar Pistorius has “no chance” of competing at next month’s Olympics after the double-amputee sprinter failed to achieve the qualifying time.

The IAAF has made it clear today they fully support Oscar Pistorius in his bid to represent South Africa at next month’s Olympic Games.

‘BLADE RUNNER’ Oscar Pistorius may take legal action against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) amid reports they are trying to exclude him from South Africa’s Olympic team.

THOMAS CHAMNEY will take his quest for the Olympic A standard for 800m to Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, on Sunday after a disappointing race in Lucerne last night.

THOMAS CHAMNEY went to within 0.66 seconds of the Olympic ‘A’ standard for 800m in Lignano, Italy, at the weekend, when he finished fourth in a quality race in 1:44.66, and now the Clonmel man will take his quest for a place in Beijing to Lucerne tomorrow night.

PAUL HESSION, who looks a serious contender for a place in the final of the 200m at next month’s Olympic Games, doubles up in the 100m and 200m at The Mardyke today.

The Irish lightweight four of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey, and Eugene Coakley finished sixth in today's final at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne.

An Irish rowing team of seven boats has been announced to compete in the opening regatta of the FISA World Cup series next week at the 1972 Olympic regatta course in Munich, Germany.

World Cup finalists Italy and France will vie with Holland for a place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals after being drawn in the same group for next summer’s competition.

The draw will be made for the Euro 2008 finals with the spectre of a match-fixing inquiry hanging over football.

UEFA have denied claims that Euro 2008 qualifiers are part of a match-fixing investigation but have revealed doubts about one Intertoto Cup match were so serious it was referred to their disciplinary committee.

UEFA president Michel Platini’s controversial plan for cup winners to qualify for the Champions League has been rejected.

The Irish men's lightweight four have agonisingly missed out on qualifying the boat for next year's Olympics at the World Rowing Championships in Munich today.

The Irish men’s lightweight four (M4-) of Paul Griffin (Muckross), Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria), Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen) and Cathal Moynihan (Neptune) placed sixth in their semi-final of the Rowing World Championships in Munich this morning to progress to Saturday’s B final where they will race for Olympic qualification.

Seven Irish boats; five of them in Olympic classes will take to the water in Lucerne, Switzerland this weekend for the final leg of this year’s Rowing World Cup series.