Surbiton's Moe Sbihi reaches Olympic rowing final

Surbiton's Moe Sbihi reached the final of the men's eight on yesterday as part of Team GBs rowing eight team.  They won their repechage at the Olympic rowing venue in Eton Dorney.  The final will be held on Wednesday morning.

 

Team GB's men's eight were winners of a sparkling repechage in which the home team produced a strong first half and then controlled the race to win in 5:26.85. From the front they could watch and respond to the three-way battle developing behind them between Canada -  who took second in 5:27.41 to GB's 5:26.85 - and the Netherlands and Australia who were third and fourth respectively.

The home crowd gave them some very loud support on a sunny, but breezy day.

 

GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner said: "We've had An excellent day today with the men's four and the women's double showing their standard in winning their heats and the men's eight and women's quad both qualifying for their A finals through the repechage.

 

"With all the heats completed we have placed ourselves in a strong position to step through the next rounds and gain more A final places in the next few days".

 

The full GB team consists of Alex Partridge, James Foad, Tom Ransley, Ric Egington, Moe Sbihi, Greg Searle, Matt Langridge, Constantine Louloudis and Phelan Hill (cox).

 

London 2012 Olympic Games Regatta - Monday July 30

Men's Eight Repecharge

 

1. Great Britain 5:26.85

2. Canada 5:27.41

3. Netherlands 5:27.98

4. Australia 5:28.67

5. Poland 5:30.34

6. Ukraine 5:42.19

 

We will all be cheering for Team GB on Wednesday anyway, but it's even more exciting to have a local connection.  Good luck Moe!