Three SA crews reach semis at rowing championships

03 September 2015 - 11:52 By Staff Reporter

Defending champions James Thompson and John Smith led the South African charge at the rowing world championships in France on Wednesday as three crews advanced to Thursday’s semifinals. Thompson and Smith won their lightweight double sculls race by more than three seconds in what was the biggest margin of victory of the four quarterfinals.China won by the narrowest margin in quarterfinal two‚ a mere quarter-of-a-second over New Zealand‚ while Britain was just more than a second faster than Denmark in quarterfinal one.Thompson and Smith’s counterparts in the lightweight women’s double sculls‚ Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler‚ were also comfortable victors over Russia and the US.In the men’s pairs‚ Shaun Keeling and David Hunt ended second behind France‚ but that was still good enough with the first three from each heat progressing to the semifinals.The women’s pair of Lee-Ann Persse and Naydene Smith will have the fourth of SA’s Olympic boats in the semifinals‚ having advanced from the repecharges yesterday.In terms of contesting medals‚ all four crews must get into Saturday’s A-finals‚ but to qualify for Rio 2016‚ they must make the top 11‚ which means finishing better than last place in the B- final.All four of these crews made A-finals last year. – The Times..

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