Wednesday is one of the busiest days of the Games for Team Ireland. Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty will race in Ireland’s first rowing medal final of this year’s Games at 1.50am on what is a big day after rowing was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday due to bad weather. The Irish team go in lane two and will be hoping to potentially win the country’s first medal so far after they qualified directly from their heat in second place.
At 3.30am Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy will look to maintain their impressive form in the men’s doubles sculls when they race in their semi-final while Monica Dukarska and Aileen Crowley could make it a very successful day for Irish rowing when they go in the women’s pair semi-final at 4.20am. Kicking off the day will be Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne in the men’s double sculls B final at 12.20am.
In hockey, the women’s team face Germany in their third Pool A match after beating South Africa on Saturday but losing to the Netherlands on Monday. Germany have won their opening two matches and sit second to the Netherlands while Ireland are two points behind in fourth with two more matches to go after Wednesday’s. The top four from each pool qualify for the quarter-finals.
After winning the opening race in the men’s 49er event on Tuesday, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove will be looking to maintain that form going into the next three races on Wednesday at 4.05am after they were rescheduled due to bad weather.
Nhat Nguyen made light work of his opening Group F match in the men’s singles badminton on Monday and he now faces 10th seed Wang Tzu-wei of Taiwan at 10.40am. After Tzu-wei also won his opening match in the three-man group it means this is a make-or-break clash with the winner advancing to the knockout stages.
In the boxing ring, after his victory over Jose Brotons of Spain on Saturday, Kurt Walker fights the tough Uzbek Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov in the last 16 of the men’s featherweight division at 4.36am. Aoife O’Rourke got a bye into the last 16 of the women’s middleweight division and she will face China’s Qian Li at 10.18am.
Megan Fletcher begins her judo campaign after 3am in the preliminary rounds with the whole competition running on Wednesday, the finals getting underway at 9am. Earlier in the morning Derek Burnett becomes just the third Irish Olympian ever to compete at a fifth Olympics when he begins qualification for the men’s trap shooting at 1.25am while Nicolas Roche goes in the men’s time trial at 3am.
At 1.30am Ireland’s Rugby Sevens team face Kenya to decide who finishes ninth and 10th.
After becoming just the second Irish swimmer ever to reach an Olympic final when she swam in the 100m breaststroke on Tuesday, Mona McSharry will look to repeat that trick in the 200m event when she goes in the first heat at 11.36am with the top 16 from the four heats advancing to the semi-finals.
To catch up on all of the Irish action from Day 4 you can read our round-up here.
What else is on?
Katie Ledecky could bring home two medals in the women’s 200m freestyle (2.41am) – where she will look to avenge her 400m defeat by Ariarne Titmus – and the 1,500m freestyle (3.54am) on what is another big day in the pool.
Later on baseball makes its Olympics return for the first time since 2008 when hosts Japan face the Dominican Republic at 4am.
Medal events: 23
Artistic gymnastics (men’s all-around), basketball (women’s 3x3, men’s 3x3), cycling (women’s time trial, men’s time trial), diving (men’s 3m synchro), equestrian (dressage individual), fencing (men’s team sabre), judo (women’s -70kg, men’s -90kg), rowing (women’s double sculls, men’s double sculls, women’s four, men’s four), rugby sevens (men’s), surfing (women’s, men’s), swimming (women’s 200m free, men’s 200m fly, women’s 200m medley, women’s 1500m free, men’s 4x200m free), weightlifting (men’s 73kg).
Full Irish schedule for Wednesday, July 28th
12.20am Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne - Men’s Doubles Sculls Rowing Final B
1.30am Ireland Men’s Rugby Sevens Team - 9th/10th place playoff v Kenya
1.25am Derek Burnett - Men’s Trap Shooting Qualification
1.50am Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty - Women’s Fours Rowing Final
3am Megan Fletcher - Women’s 70kg Judo Eliminations v Michaela Polleres
3.30am Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy - Lightweight Men’s Doubles Sculls Rowing Semi-Final
3.30am Nicolas Roche - Men’s Time Trial Cycling
3.40am Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen - Lightweight Women’s Doubles Sculls Rowing Semi-Final
4.05am Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove - Men’s 49er Sailing Fleet Race 2, 3 and 4
4.15am Ireland Women’s Hockey Team - v Germany Pool Stages
4.20am Monica Dukarska and Aileen Crowley - Women’s Pair Rowing Semi-Final
4.36am Kurt Walker - Men’s Featherweight Boxing Round of 16 v Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov
9am Megan Fletcher - Women’s 70kg Judo Repechage and Finals*
10.18am Aoife O’Rourke - Women’s Middleweight Boxing Round of 16 v Qian Li
10.40am Nhat Nguyen - Men’s Singles Badminton Group F v Wang Tzu-wei
11.36am Mona McSharry - Women’s 200m Breaststroke Swimming Heat
