CUSAI Irish Records Broken In The Pool

Ireland's swimmers were on form in the World University Games on Sunday, with four Irish national records being broken.

Karl Burdis is through to the men's 100m backstroke final on Monday after he broke the Irish record twice in one day. In the morning heat, the University of Minnesota student swam 55.27 seconds and in the semi-final that evening he finished with an overall placing of seventh with a time of 55.03 seconds.

His compatriot in the pool Steven McQuillan also notched up an Irish record swimming 24.60 in the 50m butterfly. The QUB student from Bangor, Co Down, swam in 24.60 seconds in his heat.

The Irish men were on form as they teamed up with Barry Murphy and Ryan Harrison. The foursome broke the national record for the men's 4x100m freestyle and Murphy also notched up his own record, breaking the 100m freestyle record.

Olympian Melanie Nocher got through her heats in the 200m backstroke but failed to make the cut for the final finishing in 10th overall with the top eight going through to the medal decider. She finished second in her heat behind American Emily Neal, swimming a time of 2:12.85 minutes. In the semis she swam 2:13.38 minutes but didn't make it through to the final.

In tennis, there was mixed fortunes for the Irish. The impressive Dara McLoughlin showed his strength in the second round of the men's singles defeating the Syrian number one Zaid Chehabi in straight sets. McLoughlin is now into tomorrow's third round after winning 6-1, 6-2.

Niamh Coveney was at the other end of the scale against number 12 seed in the competition. Australian Alison Bai beat the DCU student 6-1, 6-1 in the second round match at the Olimp Sports Centre.

On Monday, along with Karl Burdis in the 100m backstroke, Ryan Harrison is in action in the 200m freestyle heats.

In football, although out of the main competition the women face Poland in a 10:30am kick off and the men have an evening fixture against Canada.