ROWING: FORMER King's School oarsman Tom James suffered his second blow of the year last weekend when a back injury ruled him out of a world championships semi-final in Lucerne.

The 19-year-old from Coedpoeth, who was in the Cambridge crew beaten in the Boat Race by Oxford earlier this year, had to pull out of the Great Britain eight after he had stroked the crew to a qualif ication in their heat.

He injured his back during the race, in which Great Britain led at the 500 metres mark against world silver medallists Germany.

GB were only a few feet behind at 1,000 metres and despite Holland coming through by the 1,500m mark, all three qualified with only a length covering the boats.

James was pulled out of the semi-final by the team doctor and with another crew member also missing with stomach trouble, the eight could manage only fifth place.