ROWING: An approaching typhoon will delay the start of the World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan, and may cause serious disruption to the programme. Ireland have five crews entered, including strong medal hopefuls in the men's lightweight four.

The championships were due to start on Sunday, but Typhoon Mawar, with winds as powerful as 193kph (121mph), is heading for Japan and may start to affect coastal areas this evening or tomorrow morning.

Matt Smith, the executive director of FISA, the governing body of the sport, predicted yesterday that the championships would begin on Tuesday, with the first four days of the programme compressed into the first two days.

Last month FISA published contingency plans for the event in case of this scenario, with the most likely outcome seeing some rounds being lost, most likely repechages or semi-finals, and the use of eight lanes instead of six in some cases.