Sport Ireland has defended its decision not to fund former world champions Shane O'Driscoll and Mark O'Donovan for the upcoming year, which O'Donovan said was "a kick in the teeth" in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics.

The duo were world champions in the lightweight pair in 2017 but moved up to the Olympic-class heavyweight pair last year, finishing 16th in the World Championships. While they believed that met the criteria outlined by Sport Ireland, they were not among the nine rowers issued grants of between €20,000 and €40,000 earlier this month.

The issue boiled down to a stipulation requiring the rowers to finish within three places of the Olympic quota at the World Championships. While there will be 13 teams competing at the Tokyo Games, only 11 spots are available for qualification at the World Championships, the additional two at a qualification regatta.

Given they finished 16th at the World Championships, the rowers believed this fell within the necessary criteria, but Sport Ireland confirmed that with just 11 qualifying spots available, a top-14 finish was needed.

"The criteria were clear," said Paul McDermott, director of high performance with Sport Ireland. "There were 11 quota places available so the top 14 would have got funding. That's the bottom line. There are 13 going to the Olympic Games, but that's not how the criteria works."

O'Donovan claimed the decision was demoralising and had put the rowers "in a position we don't deserve to be in".

"We don't have a penny coming in, in what's a very important year," he told The 'Southern Star'. "Whatever savings I have will be eaten into very fast. We are chasing a dream here, we feel we can qualify for the Olympics and we are working really hard."

Irish Independent