Day 8 Preview

There will be 13 Irish athletes in action on day 8.

09:00-Athletics Men's 20k walk
Robert Heffernan is in action later today and after finishing 6th in the World championships last year in Osaka, he will be hopeful of being up at the front of the pack and if he puts in a good performance anything is possible, especially with the frequency of disqualifications in this discipline. A medal is a long shot but he will certainly give it a good shot.

At 12:10 Joanne Cuddihy will be in the 400 metre heats. Cuddihy came close to the final in Osaka last year and she became the first Irish woman to run under 51 seconds. She has struggled with injury lately and this may affect her chances, but if she has recovered sufficiently and puts in a couple of good runs a place in the final is possible, but first and foremost she must make the semi.

15:45-Boxing Men's Middle (75kg) Round of 16
Darren Sutherland fights for the first time in this competition against Nabil Kassel of Algeria after getting a bye in the first round. Sutherland is one of Ireland's great hopes and widely tipped for a medal, but his opponent won't be a walk over and if he can overcome this test it will bode well for him for the rest of the competition.

19:00-Men's Light Fly (48kg) Round of 16
The other boxer in action is Belfast's Paddy Barnes who also fights for the first time after recieving a bye. Paddy fights Jose Luis Meza of Ecuador and the first Irish qualifier for these games will not want to have waited this long to be knocked out in his first bout but he will have to be in good form to progress.

14:50-Rowing Lightweight Men's Four Final B
The lightweight fours will be hoping to put the disappointment of yesterday behind them to finish of in style. They row in the B final and should be in contention to win it.

12:00-Sailing
The 470 boys are back in action in races 8 and 9 and will have to post some top 10 finishes if they are to get back into contention for the medal race.

Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne are hoping to continue the good start they got off to yesterday. They are scheduled to have three races today to make up for the loss of one due to the poor weather yesterday.

Ciara Peelo will need more results like the 7th she got yesterday if she is to get into the medal race. She too has three races in her Laser radial class.