Tokyo Olympics: Belfast rower Rebecca Shorten reaches her final as Banbridge man Philip Doyle's medal hopes end

Belfast rower Rebecca Shorten and her GB team-mates reached the women's four final in Tokyo but Banbridge man Philip Doyle's medal hopes ended.

Shorten's British boat clinched their final spot by winning the repechage in the event.

However, Irish rower Doyle and double sculls partner Ronan Byrne were sixth and last in their semi-final.

Coleraine rower Hannah Scott and her GB colleagues exited from the women's quad after placing fourth in the repechage.

In swimming, Larne club woman Danielle Hill was over half a second outside her qualification time as she clocked 1:00.86 to finish third in her 100m backstroke heat which was not enough to progress to the semi-finals.

Hill, 22, secured last-gasp qualification for Tokyo by producing a new Irish record time of 1:00.18 a month ago and would have needed to better 1:00.04 to secure a semi-finals spot as she finished 25th overall.

"I would like to have performed a little bit better given that it was an evening swim but at the same time I'm proud to have put the Irish hat on and represented Larne as well," said Hill, who will compete in the 50m freestyle later in the Games.

Hill's team-mate Sligo woman Mona McSharry produced an impressive swim to reach the 100m breaststroke semi-finals as her time of 1:06.39 - 0.10 seconds outside her national record - left her ninth fastest in the heats and the 2017 world junior champion can now realistically target a place in the final.

McSharry, 20, maintained her composure despite South Africa's Tatiana Schoenmaker setting a new Olympic record of 1:04.82 in the next lane to clock a time which was 0.57 inside qualification.

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Irish rowers Doyle, 28, and Corkman Byrne were regarded as big medal hopes after winning silver at the 2019 World Championships but will now have to be content with a place in the B final on Wednesday.

They failed to progress automatically to the semi-finals from their opening heat on Friday and after squeezing into the semis via the repechage on Saturday, their fate was sealed on Sunday as France, Great Britain and secured the qualifying spots with New Zealand and Germany also finishing ahead of the Irish, who were tailed off in sixth spot.

Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland, a disappointed Doyle said it was hard to explain the performance beyond saying that "there's something just lacking at the minute".

"The Olympics is such a big stage. Some people come here with such expectations and we were one of those people," said the county Down man.

"We've been doing well and the boat speed was good and we were hitting personal bests.

"It's hard because people are staying up so late at home to watch us and you feel the support and the messages are so inspiring and give us so much confidence but it just really didn't come together for us today."

After their struggles in their opening two races, Doyle revealed that the Irish duo had opted for a new boat after a "brainstorming" session on Saturday but said they were immediately in trouble on Sunday after wind knocked them out of their lane right at the start of the race.

"This morning we came down we were feeling good, feeling confident and then the first stroke we got pulled by the wind out of the lane came back in and at this level, that's it over."

In terms of whether he will continue his rowing career through the Paris Games in 2024, the doctor said that he will resume work at Newry's Daisy Hill Hospital before making a decision in a year's time.

By contrast British rower Shorten, 27, said she was "excited" at the prospect of Wednesday's women's four A final after she and team-mates Karen Bennett, Rowan McKellar and Harriet Taylor won their repechage after the struggles of their opening heat.

"That was more of us today. We reassessed everything and thought about the race and just knew we had to row maybe a bit longer and actually finish the strokes and we did that," said the Belfast woman.

Great Britain's opponents in the final, which takes place on Wednesday at 01:50 BST, will include the Ireland boat.

Ireland's big rowing medal hope world champion Sanita Puspure won her quarter-final in impressive style to reach Tuesday's semi-finals in her single sculls event.

The Irish women's pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and the lightweight women's double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey also progressed to the semi-finals from their repechages on Sunday morning.

Irish boxer Brennan revealed after his fight that rib and shoulder injuries had affected his preparations for the Games

In boxing, Irish light-heavyweight Emmet Brennan bowed out of the Games after a brave display against one of the gold medal favourites Uzbekistan's Dilshod Ruzmetov.

The slick Ruzmetov, a world championship silver medallist in 2019, bossed the first round as he was able to pick off the Dubliner from distance despite the Irishman's attempts to get in close.

Two of the five judges felt Brennan, 30, had levelled the contest by the end of the second round but Ruzmetov still had a big lead on the three other cards and despite continuing valiant efforts by the Irishman, was given a unanimous decision.

Late bloomer Brennan took out a Credit Union loan to years ago to train full-time in the hope of qualifying for the Olympics as he was not on Sport Ireland funding and achieved that at the final qualifiers in Paris earlier this year.

The Dubliner gave an emotional post-fight interview when he revealed that rib and shoulder injuries had totally hindered his ability to spar in recent months.