Rowing Croatia, New Zealand beat men and women in doubles

TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) – Croatia’s mighty Sinkovic brothers clashed with the men and New Zealand’s unstoppable crew won the women’s race as the Olympic rowing continued on Thursday on Tokyo’s brazen Sea Forest waterway.

Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic, who won gold in the pair in Rio and were the world champions for the pairs in 2018 and 2019, withdrew almost immediately to win at 6: 15.29, 1.29 seconds ahead of silver medalists Romania, Denmark took the bronze.

Kiwis Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler dazzled Wednesday’s semi-finals at the best time in the world again dazzling by winning a slow start and taking the lead shortly after midfield to win 6: 50.19 with the Russian Olympic Committee and Canada, taking silver and bronze.

Ireland made a bold performance to win the men’s light doubles when Rio silver medalist Paul ODonovan and teammate Fintan McCarthy left Germany as they left for the home team to claim gold 6: 06.43.

Italy ranked far third.

On Thursday, the medal races ended dramatically as Italy took an amazing victory in the final moments of the lightweight women’s singles before France and the Netherlands.

Britain lost the podium by one hundredth of a second.

The Gulf of Tokyo once again ruined the windy conditions and the heat continued to punish competitors. Temperatures were close to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday morning as the sun broke through the early clouds.

Report: Amy Tennery in Tokyo; Edited by Stephen Coates / Peter Rutherford

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