By Bruce Archer

Molesey Boat Club’s James Foad has been left frustrated in his bid to be included in the GB Rowing team for the World Championships in Chungju, South Korea.

Currently listed among four rowers for a place in the men’s pair, Foad hopes he can do enough this weekend in a final round of test racing to cement his place in the boat for the final rowing event of the year.

It has been a difficult year for the 26-year-old who underwent a back operation in October meaning he missed out on the first 2013 World Cup event in Sydney altogether.

However, Foad replaced the unwell Alex Gregory in the men’s eight that took gold at Eton Dorney in June.

But when Gregory returned for the final regatta of the World Cup series in Lucerne, Foad was relegated back to the reserves.

Foad said: “It makes it really difficult for preparation and it’s not an ideal situation at all.

"The pair will only be put together on Sunday and it’s two weeks until the competition starts.

"The pair is one of the toughest boats to come together because you’re 50 per cent of the boat.

“It’s a tough event and we’ve not been given a lot of time to work with. It’s quite disappointing really."

He added: “They still want to do some more testing this weekend. I performed well at the training camp in Silvretta, and by my mind, won a decent amount of races, but I’ll just have to wait and see, and hopefully I’m not a reserve.”

Foad admitted that although he is disappointed now, he came close to writing this year off in terms of competing after his back injury.

“I almost expected not to race at all this year but I came back from injury a lot sooner than I thought, so my perspective on the year changed and I saw myself as being able to compete for one of the top boats," he said.

“I don’t feel like I’ve been given a totally fair crack this year, in regards to selections. I don’t row to do the training, I row to race.”

The squad flies out to Chungju on Thursday for the event that begins on August 25 and finishes on September 1.