Breaststroke world champion Cameron van der Burgh continues his World Cup swimming campaign in Moscow this weekend.

And the South African will do so on the back of a surprise second and to-be-expected first place finish in the FINA/Arena World Cup event in Durban two weeks ago.

On that occasion he finished a shock second spot to veteran Roland Schoeman in the 50 metre breastroke although he bounced back to win the longer 100m event the next day.

Tshwane-based Van der Burgh plans to use his loss to Schoeman as an incentive on the World Cup circuit which moves on to Stockholm next weekend, Singapore (November 21-22)  before he head back to SA on November 24.

“It’s never nice to lose a race,” admitted Van der Burgh, 21, in an interview on www.in-site.co.za, “but at the same time, maybe it not’s a bad thing… for one thing, it has certainly made me even hungrier (to win). “I guess the reality is that you cannot win every race you compete in and I’d rather be losing in the first weekend of the World Cup series than the last when the title is on the line.

“Funnily my time in that 50m race wasn’t all that bad, but Roland swam an exceptional race and he deserved to win. (But) like I said before the event, I can only control how fast I swim, so from that point it was encouraging, although nobody likes to lose!”

Van der Burgh said he was happy to bounce back in the 100m: “That gave me great satisfaction. I guess there are different expectations whenever I take to the pool these days, but I was very happy to have bounced back so quickly and, of course, to secure some extra points in the World Cup race.”

“There is actually quite a big team from South Africa that will be travelling to take part in these events,” he enthused. “Previously there were just four of us taking part in the overseas leg of the World Cup, but SASCOC have secured more funding and have thus sent more swimmers to compete.

“It’s great, we’re a happy bunch together and everyone is very supportive – something which made a huge difference during the world champs in Rome.”