Campbell and Magee win in Beijing

Rower Alan Campbell had to undergo knee surgery last month

Northern Ireland rower Alan Campbell won his single scull heat on Saturday to progress to the quarter-finals.

Campbell finished strongly to win in a time of 7 minutes 14.98 seconds and was the second fastest qualifier.

In badminton, Chloe Magee superbly beat Estonia's Katie Tolmoff 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 in her first round match.

Andrew Bree improved his Irish 100m breaststroke record by .07s secs as he clocked 1:01.76 but it left him 30th and he didn't make the semi-finals.

Bree finished second in his heat behind Canada's Mike Brown who won in 1:00.98.

However, Brown didn't even make the semi-finals as the required time was 1:00.71.

Bree lamented an "ugly" finish which cost him some time but he added that his performance gave him encouragement for his 200m challenge on Tuesday.

At the start when I was walking out, I was shaking Chloe Magee

"It's a fast pool. It feels very good but there are improvements to be made and now I'm just looking forward to Tuesday."

Raphoe woman Magee was expected to be up against it as her Estonian opponent is ranked 46th in the world - 28 places above the Irish number one.

However, she produced the performance of her life to progress to a second round meeting with 11th seed Jaeyoun Jun of Korea which will be played on Sunday at 0310 BST.

Magee will have little time to prepare but she is delighted at the prospect of playing another match in Beijing.

"I just had to relax and not let the nerves get to me," said a thrilled Magee after her win.

"I played one of my best ever games and I'm just so happy.

"I thought I was going to throw it away and I was just saying to myself:'This is the Olympics. Don't throw it away'.

"I was so nervous. At the start when I was walking out, I was shaking. I've never played in an arena like this."

Two months ago I was in hospital. Now I feel there is more to come in this regatta Alan Campbell

Coleraine man Campbell had to finish in the top four in the fourth of five heats to make it safely to the next stage.

Campbell, representing Great Britain, was significantly faster than New Zealander Mahe Drysdale and Czech Ondrej Synek, two of his main contenders for medals in the event.

Sweden's Lassi Karonen was fastest qualifier.

Campbell's build-up preparations for Beijing were hindered by a knee operation but he felt no ill-effect in Saturday's opener.

"I am more than pleased with it. That was my first 2k since the injury. Two months ago I was in hospital. Now I feel there is more to come in this regatta," said Campbell.

Meanwhile Ireland's heavyweight rowing four progressed directly to the semi-finals after finishing a superb third behind Australia and Germany in their heat.

Chloe Magee produced a superb display on Saturday

The young Irish crew of Cormac Folan, Sean Casey, Jonno Devlin and Sean O'Neill finished ahead of France, which was something of a surprise.

Letterkenny's Philip Deignan finished 81st in cycling's men's road race on Saturday, 15 minutes and 53 seconds behind the winner, in a time of six hours, 39 minutes, 42 seconds.

His team-mate Nicholas Roche finished in 64th place.

Kenny Egan, got his light-heavyweight boxing campaign up and running with a 22-2 win over Julius Jackson of the Virgin Islands.

After leading 6-0 following the first round, Egan suffered a shock knockdown in round two but he recovered to dominate the remainder of the bout.

Chloe Magee's Irish badminton team-mate Scott Evans fell to an agonising 18-21, 21-18, 19-21 defeat against Germany's Marc Zwiebler in his first-round match.

Ireland's Siobhan Byrne was beaten in the first round of the women's individual sabre in fencing.

Shooter Derek Burnett, appears unlikely to reach the final of the Men's Trap after he ended the first qualification event in 15th place, with just the top six reaching the final.

In sailing, Ireland's Tim Goodbody lies 20th overall in the Finn heavyweight dinghy class after scoring a 22nd in Race 1 and 13th in Race 2.