Team Ireland experienced the highs and lows of modern day sport during day 8 of the World University Games in Kazan, Russia.

The emotions of the day is best summed up by the following time line (Irish time):

4.02pm: The Irish men’s football players stand shell shocked in the semi-circle of Trudovye Rezervy Stadium after just losing their quarter final game against opponents France 4-3 on penalties. The game had ended 0-0 and had to be decided by the dreaded penalties.

4.23pm: UL student Andrew Meegan finishes in 7th place in the 1500m freestyle in a brilliant time of 15:24.56 – a new Irish Senior record and Andrew’s third of the games.

4.32pm – Loughborough University student Claire Tarplee battles to stay in contention during a blistering last two laps of the 1500m to finish in a commendable 6th place in a time of 4:13.37. Claire had only squeezed into the final as a fastest qualifier and could barely hide her delight at her run in the final.

4.55pm – Fiona Doyle turns for home in third place in the 200m breaststroke and storms past her University of Calgary team mate Laura Sogar (USA),  to claim a brilliant second place and secure the silver medal in a new Irish senior record time of 1:07.66. To cheers of ‘ole ole’ from her pool side Team Ireland teammates Fiona was presented with the silver medal and joined Sonia O’Sullivan, Gary O’Toole, Derval O’Rourke, Paul Hession and Danielle McVeigh to name but a few of Irish World University Games medallists.

Saturday, the 13th July sees Fiona and Andrew return to the pool in the morning to compete in the heats of the 200m breaststroke and 800m freestyle respectively while the Women’s Football Team play Chinese Taipei in the semi-final of the 5th – 8th play-off at 5pm GMT.