A number of Irish rowers have been left in limbo over their chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games after the cancellation of all international events through March, April and May.
The coronavirus outbreak means there will be no final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne (May 17-19) nor the World Rowing Cup III at the same venue the following week.
A number of Irish crews were chasing Olympic spots at those events and no decision has yet been made on how qualification can now be attained in those categories.
Rowing Ireland Chief Executive Michelle Carpenter said of the cancellations: “We are working with World Rowing at present regarding the allocation of final places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This will be disappointing for all our athletes as in the sport of rowing it is the boat that qualifies and not the athletes.
“These athletes are dedicated to getting to the Olympic games and representing Ireland, and we are doing everything at present to support them in these challenging times.
“The Women’s four narrowly missed out on the opportunity to qualify last year at the World Rowing Championships in Linz Austria due to lane allocation and prevailing wind."
Ireland already have a number of rowers qualified for the games in Tokyo after Sanita Puspure and the men’s lightweight double of Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan both won gold medals at the world championships.
The men’s double pair of Ronan Byrne and Phil Doyle and the women's pair Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarksa have also qualified.
But the FISA, rowing’s governing body, are now discussing with the International Olympic Committee how the remaining qualifying positions will be allocated.
A World Rowing official said: “FISA is now in close contact with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in order to finalise proposals regarding the changes to the respective qualification systems.
"The next communication will take place on Tuesday, 17 March 2020. FISA understands the tremendous disruption to athletes, crews and all training opportunities as a result of the global pandemic situation and is taking these decisions in the very best and most principled way we can under the circumstances.
"Due to the unprecedented containment measures being taken by governments around the world, we recognise that Member Federations’ planning for Tokyo 2020 qualification, travel, accommodation and equipment movement is changing on a daily basis.
"FISA is working to gather information, analyse carefully, make decisions and communicate promptly."
