The Briton (pictured top), who struck gold in the AS men's single sculls at Beijing 2008, will be hoping to benefit from the same ecstatic home support afforded to his compatriots in the recent Olympics when he defends his title at Eton Dorney.

The 28-year-old's chances look remarkably good given that the former rugby player has remained undefeated at World Championship level since making his international bow five years ago.

Multi-talented Liudmila Vauchok (pictured below) of Belarus, having claimed silver in Beijing, will be hoping to go one better when she lines up in the AS women's single sculls.

However, the 31-year-old double Winter Paralympics cross-country skiing champion's task will not be easy with strong challenges expected from former world champions Alla Lysenko of Ukraine and France's Nathalie Benoit.


Supporting Aggar in his quest for home glory will be the British LTA mixed cox four which, as reigning world champions, has a magnificent chance of also making the podium's top step; Naomi Rogers, the only survivor from the bronze medal-winning crew of 2008, and her team-mates will likely face stiff opposition from Canada, the former world title holders.

China will be anxious to retain the TA mixed double sculls crown it gained on home waters four years ago with new pair Xiaoxian Lou and Tianming Fei, the current world champions, charged with seeing off challenges from Australia, whose Kathryn Ross rowed to silver in the last Paralympics, and Brazil, with Josiane Liam looking to better her third place in Beijing.

Brazil and Ukraine will be hopeful of leading the way on the rowing medals table as the only nations to have crews qualified for all four boat classes.

Twelve crews will race in each of the four categories with 108 rowers from 23 countries battling for honours.

The competition kicks off next Friday (August 31) with qualifying heats followed by the finals two days later.

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