GARY AND PAUL O’Donovan cruised into the World Rowing Championship quarter-finals as the Irish crews got off to a bright start on the opening day in Bulgaria.

The O’Donovans, who won silver at the European Championships earlier this summer, won their heat in the lightweight men’s double sculls with plenty in hand, finishing in 6:15.79.

The Skibbereen duo will be back on the water on Wednesday for the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty qualified for the semi-finals of the women’s pairs, finishing their heat in second place behind New Zealand in a time of 7:11.51.

The men’s double sculls crew of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne are also into the semi-finals after they took second place in their heat, also behind New Zealand, in 6:12.61.

But there was disappointment for Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey in the lightweight women’s double sculls. They could only manage to finish fourth of five in their heat, and will now target Tuesday’s repechage where a top-two finish will see them safely through to the semi-finals.

Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscolll will also face repechage after they finished last in their men’s pair heat in a time of 6:29.10. They return to the water for the repechage on Monday. 

Sanita Puspure (women’s single sculls), Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska (women’s double sculls) and the men’s quadruple scull team – Andrew Goff, Ryan Ballantine and Jake and Fintan McCarthy — begin their regatta on Monday.

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