Alan Clyne is through to the Men’s Singles quarter-finals after a hard-fought win over Australian Rex Hedrick at Oxenford Studios.
Clyne took the first game 11-7 against the backdrop of a partisan crowd backing the home favourite. The second and third games followed suit, with Alan rounding off a 3-0 win to move into the quarter-finals where he’ll take on Welshman Joel Makin at 18:45hrs (09:45hrs UK Time) on Saturday 7 April.
Speaking after the match Alan said: “The first game was important. On these courts it’s quite bouncy so it’s hard to kill the ball. Rex had two matches yesterday and the first was really tough, so I knew there would be something in his legs, and that I had to make that first game long, which I did. Even though the second and third were just as tough that certainly took a bit out of him.
“Being the home favourite you don’t want to give him anything to go on, so I tried to stay on top from the start. Now it’s on to the quarter-finals. I’ve never been in this position before, but I’ve been in the doubles and I’m playing Joel who I’ve had many battles with. They are usually tight matches, and I’m sure it’ll be another one tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day, Kevin Moran progressed to the quarter-final of the Men’s Singles Classic Plate after a 3-1 win over Pakistan’s Farhan Zaman. Kevin was drawn against Ernest Jombla of Sierra Leone and made quick work of it; progressing to the next round with a 3-0 victory in just 17 minutes.
Speaking after the match Kevin said: “The plate competition is something I got to the final of at the last Commonwealth Games. I came into today’s match with no pressure – he’s seeded higher than me and I think that played towards my performance.”
“I can’t wait for the mixed doubles. Lisa and I are itching to get on court and really go after the teams we have in our group. It’s a great atmosphere here, even out on the back courts, so I can’t wait to get going. Even playing singles here I have one eye on the doubles.”
In the other Men’s Singles round of 16 match, Greg Lobban narrowly lost 3-1 to England’s Daryl Selby. He’ll now look forward to competing in the Men’s Doubles alongside Clyne on Tuesday.
Cycling siblings Katie and John Archibald made history at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane tonight as they became the first brother/sister pair to win medals for Team Scotland at the same Commonwealth Games.
Katie struck first, taking gold in the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit before her brother collected silver in the men’s equivalent, the 4000m Individual Pursuit, on a stunning day for the family from Milngavie.
Speaking after her gold medal success, Katie Archibald, said: “This feels overly special. It’s been a big target for some time to plant my name on an international stage. I have been National Champion, European Champion but I really wanted this. I wanted the prestige of an Individual Pursuit.”
Silver medallist, John Archibald, admitted to being inspired by his sister’s stellar showing.
“I watched her heat run and the pressure was on her. Her back was against the wall and she delivered on the day. That got me going.”
Katie Archibald booked her place in the gold medal race with a Games Record time of 3:24.119, breaking the two Games records set, and then bettered by her Australian opponents in the qualifying rounds.
The times lined up a head-to-head between Archibald and Australia’s Rebecca Wiasak, with Archibald delivering a sensational performance to take gold.
“I was going off my own schedule until that last kilometre and that’s when I knew I was down. You could tell by the crowd. We have such good crowds at home, so usually when you hear a roar you’re thinking ‘oh yeah this is good’. It’s a rarity to hear a roar and think ‘oh no!’ I have a problem. I just tried to overcome that to win.”
Like his sister before him, John secured his spot in the gold medal race in a Games Record time of 4:13.51, which remained intact for six further heats before England’s Charlie Tanfield clocked 4:11.435 to set-up the gold/silver encounter, with John coming in as runner-up.
John Archibald, who converted from Road to Track Cycling less than a year ago, was naturally delighted with the result.
“From six months ago to now has been a crazy journey so I’m really pleased. Eight or nine months ago I’d never touched a track bike. I stopped work and went full time into cycling in the last three or four months and gave everything towards it.
“Scottish Cycling backed me and gave me physio, nutrition, coaching – all the things you need to not worry about anything apart from your own performance. I’ve gone all blazing into it and luckily I’ve come away with something I’m really proud of.”
Elsewhere 20-year-old prospect Jack Carlin – who won silver in the Keirin at last year’s European U23 track championships – put in a powerful and mature display in the Men’s Keirin, finishing as the fastest qualifier in the first round of heats, and then second-fastest in the second to reach the final, where he crossed the line two tenths-of-a-seconds outside of the medals in fourth.
There was disappointment for Team Scotland’s Olympic medalist Callum Skinner, who didn’t finish in the top two from the first round, forcing him into the repechage, a fourth-placed finish there meant his day was over.
Mark Stewart and Kyle Gordon also raced the Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit however excellent times of 4:20.245 and a six-second PB of 4:18.494 were not enough to make the top-four finals for medals, the pair finishing 11th and ninth in their heats respectively.
It’s been a long road for Gordon, who took a sabbatical from his job on an oil rig to pursue his Commonwealth dream, sacrificing both his income and the chance to watch his sister walk down the aisle tomorrow (Saturday 7 April).
Gordon said: “I’m absolutely delighted. The sacrifices I’ve made over the past seven months – leaving my job and getting help from friends and some locals. I also sacrificed my sister’s wedding, which is tomorrow, so thanks to her and congratulations on the big day. If it wasn’t for her letting me go then I wouldn’t have put in a PB time like that at the Commonwealth Games.”
Day three on the track is another huge day for Team Scotland cyclists with 12 of the 15-strong cross-disciplinary team competing at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane, Neah Evans and Eileen Roe featuring for the first time in the 2018 Games.
Team Scotland picked up where they left off on day one, winning another five medals including gold and silver for siblings Katie and John Archibald in the velodrome.
Never before have a Scottish brother and sister won medals on the same day at the same Commonwealth Games, but with the Archibalds both reaching their respective gold medal races they wrote their names in the history books.
Katie was up first, winning 3000m Individual Pursuit gold to add to her world title, with older brother John completing a remarkable breakthrough to take silver in the 4000m individual pursuit.
In the pool there were a brace of bronze medals for Duncan Scott in the 200m Freestyle and 4x100m Freestyle Relay, the latter alongside Jack Thorpe, Kieran McGuckin and Stephen Milne. There was also silver for Mark Szaranek in the 400m Individual Medley on his Commonwealth debut, to round off a great day for the team.
For full details see the individual feature pieces about Beach Volleyball’s Commonwealth Games debut and Alan Clyne’s progression into the last eight of the Men’s Singles in Squash.
Badminton: Having made sure of their place in the Mixed Team quarter-finals yesterday with 5-0 and 4-1 victories over Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively, Team Scotland’s Badminton players took to the court against number one seeds India to see who would top Group A. Scotland fielded an experimental line-up and India ultimately prevailed 5-0 despite some close matches. With the quarter-final draw still to made, Eleanor O’Donnell commented: “We don’t know who we’re playing yet but we’ll just look to get as many wins as we can and put in good performances. We’re a young team; for four of us it’s our first Games so we’ll just go out there and enjoy it.”
Boxing: Scott Forrest was first in the ring this afternoon against Elly Ocholla of Kenya. The Lochend Heavyweight looked sharper and stronger than his opponent, taking the bout on a unanimous points decision. He’ll now face regular training partner Cheavon Clarke of England on Tuesday.
After the fight Scott said: “I feel amazing – I’ve never felt better in my life going into these Games. I’ve had good preparation, the first one is done and now it’s onto the rest.
And speaking about facing Clarke next he added: “We’ve trained together four days a week down in Sheffield. We know each other; we know each other’s tricks so it’s going to be some fight to watch.”
In the evening session Middleweight John Docherty and Super Heavyweight, Mitchell Barton faced Jean Alberte of Mauritius and New Zealander Patrick Mailata respectively.
Docherty, gold medallist at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa boxed well throughout to take the fight on a unanimous points decision. In the final fight of the night, Barton was up against an experienced fighter in the New Zealander. Despite landing several huge punches in a contest that had the Oxenford crowd in raptures, he wasn’t able to dominate and lost out to a unanimous points decision.
In the ring tomorrow, Scotland’s first ever female boxer at a Commonwealth Games, Vicky Glover, faces Dominica’s Valerian Spicer at 12:17hrs (03:17hrs UK Time). Stephen Newns is also back in action against Curlun Richardson of Anguilla at 13:32hrs (04:32hrs UK Time).
Gymnastics: Team Scotland’s women placed fifth in the Women’s Team event, scoring 142.95 points. Both Shannon Archer and Cara Kennedy have qualified for the Women’s Individual All-Around as they finished 11th and 13th; that takes place tomorrow at 16:30hrs (07:30hrs UK time).
Hamish Carter and Frank Baines will also be in action tomorrow in the Men’s Individual All-Around Final which gets under way at 09:00hrs (00:00hrs UK time) tomorrow.
Hockey: After a goal from Amy Brodie was disallowed in the final quarter, the Women’s Hockey team were disappointed not to get the win, instead having to settle for a 0-0 draw against Canada. The women now have two days rest before their next game against Ghana on Monday 9 April at 16:30hrs (07:30hrs UK time).
Team Scotland’s Men’s Hockey squad will be in action tomorrow morning at 11:30hrs (02:30hrs UK time), also playing Canada.
Lawn Bowls: Day two proved successful for Team Scotland’s Bowlers as the team picked up wins in seven of their nine games.
First up came a 21-6 win for Caroline Brown in the Women’s Singles against World Cup Singles Champion Lucy Beere from Guernsey, followed by a 17-17 draw for the Men’s Triples against Malaysia. The later of the morning matches saw a 21-12 win for Caroline against Brunei Darussalam’s Amaliah Matali, and 20-11 to Team Scotland’s Men’s Triples against Norfolk Island.
In the evening session, the Men’s Pairs beat India 17-12 and Norfolk Island 14-12, while the Women’s Fours defeated Wales 22-10. Scotland’s B2/B3 Mixed Pairs and B6/B7/B8 Open Triples teams both faced their Welsh counterparts, with the Mixed Pairs losing 13-7 and the Open Triples team winning 27-4.
Tomorrow will see five more preliminary matches for Team Scotland’s lawn bowlers, as well as four quarter-final matches for Women’s Singles, Men’s Pairs, Men’s Triples and Women’s Fours. The team will be in action all day, starting at 09:00hrs (00:00hrs UK time).
Table Tennis: Gavin Rumgay, Craig Howieson and Colin Dalgleish were back in action at Oxenford Studios in the men’s team competition this morning against Kiribati, the team ending up comfortable 3-0 winners
Drawn against Malaysia in the round of 16 later in the afternoon the trio knew it would be a challenging tie against a team ranked 20 places above them in the ITTF World Rankings. Rumgay was first up in the singles against Chee Feng Leong, in what turned out to be a tight match. Having lost the first game, Rumgay played some spectacular shots, delighting the crowd as he fought back to lead 2-1, before the match was levelled at 2-2. The deciding game went all the way with the Malaysian taking it 12-10.
In the second singles match Howieson faced Muhammad Ashraf Haiq Muhamad Rizal, the Malaysian a 3-0 winner, but Howieson bounced back in the doubles alongside Dalgleish with an impressive 3-0 victory to take the contest to 2-1. Unfortunately Dalgleish fared the same as Howieson, an identical result seeing Malaysia clinch the tie.
As the Team competition concludes for Team Scotland, the players will now look ahead to the start of the Men’s Singles on Tuesday 10 April.
Weightlifting: Jodey Hughes produced a strong performance in the final of the Women’s 58kg category, amassing a total of 160kg having snatched 70kg before producing 90kg in the clean and jerk. Like her teammate, Lisa Tobias who was eighth in the 48kg category yesterday, Hughes only took up weightlifting after being inspired by a home Games four years ago, so was naturally pleased with her efforts and her ninth place finish.
“That stage is just something else; the crowd is incredible and there were so many Scottish flags – I enjoyed every minute of it. I hit my opener, which I was delighted with as I usually miss my first attempt because of nerves! It’s not the total that I was hoping for but I left everything out there on the stage and I’m happy with that.”
Tomorrow: Basketball and Netball are back in action tomorrow, the men taking on Cameroon at 20:00hrs (11:00hrs UK time), whilst the women take on Wales at 18:30hrs (09:30hrs UK time).
It was a great night in the pool for Team Scotland’s swimmers as they took their medal tally to five, adding a silver and two bronze medals to the two silvers won yesterday at the Optus Aquatics Centre.
Mark Szaranek made an impressive Team Scotland debut winning silver in the 400m Individual Medley. In a well-executed race, Szaranek showed real strength during the Breaststroke leg, moving up the field from fifth into second.
In the last 50m the man from Glenrothes came close to hunting down Clyde Lewis (AUS), but the home favourite held on for the win in 4:13.12. Szaranek’s silver came in 4:13.72, while Lewis Clareburt (NZL) secured bronze in 4:14.42.
Szaranek said of his performance: “I am pretty happy; the goal was always to come in and try and win, but that is the fastest I have ever been, so I can’t really ask for much more. Getting beat is getting beat, it doesn’t matter by how much; it is a shame I couldn’t win but there is always next time. The 400 IM is still something I am learning and hopefully in the future I will get it right and put together a winning performance.”
With a number of finals being held in the pouring rain, Szaranek added: “The conditions were exactly how I wanted them to be if I am honest. I wanted it to be rainy, I would have liked a bit more wind to put the other guys off but it was good fun out here racing in the rain. To race under these lights was amazing and this whole set up that they have here is something else.”
Duncan Scott and Stephen Milne lined up alongside a world-class field in the final of the 200m Freestyle. Scott was lying out of the medals with 50m to go, but showed his class to power home for the bronze in 1:46.30.
Kyle Chalmers (AUS) won gold in 1:45.56, while the 400m Freestyle champion from the opening night, Mack Horton (AUS), won silver in 1:45.89. Stephen Milne finished eighth in the final.
After picking up his medal, Scott said of his performance: “I have mixed emotions. I wanted more, but I know I should still be happy with that. It’s my first individual medal on a big stage so that alone is a massive positive.
“I don’t go into many races believing that I can’t win. To come away not winning, I am slightly disappointed. I will be looking to see how I can better that this summer. I was a lot quicker than that last summer, but this is a lot earlier in the year, so I reckon I’m in a good place for the weekend.”
In the last final of the night, Scotland’s men made history, securing their first ever medal in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay. The quartet of Duncan Scott, Jack Thorpe, Kieran McGuckin and Stephen Milne all played a massive part in securing bronze, with Milne bringing it home in 3:15.86, lowering the Scottish record they set in the heats.
After the final McGuckin was first to comment: “That was the first ever 4x100m Free medal for Scotland at a Commonwealth Games and it’s a pretty special moment for us all.”
Milne added: “The mood in the camp is great and we’ve done pretty well so far, with quite a few medals in the pool and hopefully more to come. It’s great we are adding to the whole of Team Scotland on the medal table.”
Craig McLean, Scott McLay and Dan Wallace will also receive a medal for the key role they played in the heats to ensure the team were best placed to fight for a medal come the final.
After producing a personal best swim in the heats this morning, Toni Shaw fought hard all the way in the S9 100m Backstroke final, the youngster finishing fifth in 1:16.79.
Ross Murdoch and Craig Benson both progressed to tomorrow’s 100m Breaststroke final, while Calum Tait finished his run in 12th place. Lucy Hope finished the 50m Freestyle in ninth, while Kathleen Dawson had to swim twice to ensure her place in tomorrow’s 100m Backstroke final. Posting a time of 1:00.67 for the semi-final, she found herself in a swim-off against Lizzie Simmonds (ENG) at the very end of the session. In a classic Scotland versus England tussle it was Dawson who came out on top and will return tomorrow evening.
Swimmers due to race in Saturday’s heats include double bronze medallist Duncan Scott, 400m Individual Medley silver medallist Hannah Miley and the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay. The action gets underway at 10:31hrs (01:31hrs).
Para-Sport Cycling pair Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham won Team Scotland’s first gold medal of the Games as they took victory in the 1000m Time Trial in record-breaking time on the opening night in the velodrome.
Fachie and new pilot Rotherham rattled round the track in 1.00.065 seconds, almost two seconds faster than the previous Games record set by Fachie and Craig MacLean to win gold at Glasgow 2014.
The pair arrived in Australia fresh from delivering a stunning double world gold-winning performance in Brazil, and their World Champion status earned the Scottish pair the opportunity to be the last to register their 1000m time – save for a Malaysian ‘mechanical’ that saw them return to the track after the Scots for a re-run.
This meant Fachie and Rotherham looked on as their Australian opponents piled on the pressure with a Games’ record of their own before the Scots took to the track.
Fachie said: “As soon as I’d heard they’d broken the Games record, which was mine from four years ago, I knew we had a job on our hands. Fair play, they have really stepped it up from a couple of weeks ago at the World Champs.
“Winning at a home Games was really immense and I’m just delighted to have had the opportunity to come and defend it here and to actually do it. We had to bring our A game today but we got it done and I’m so, so happy with that. We got to see the Triathlon earlier, where we picked up our first medal. We were cheering that on back in the village, so that was great motivation.”
Earlier in the day Team Scotland’s women’s pair Louise Haston and Aileen McGlynn posted an excellent personal best time of 11.153s in the 200m qualifying lap for their B&VI Sprint.
Despite their heroics they were ultimately out-paced by their Australian and English opponents, the latter registering a World Record of 10.609 in the process.
With just three entrants in the contest, Haston and McGlynn didn’t get the opportunity to put their tactics on the track in the Sprint because the three-way qualifier went to a straight gold medal shoot-out for the sole medal on offer.
Team Scotland’s Olympic medallists Katie Archibald and Callum Skinner are among the six cyclists taking to the track tomorrow. Archibald will make the first Scottish appearance at 13:26hrs (04:26hrs UK time) in the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit qualifying round, before the men enter the fray.
Endurance riders John Archibald, Kyle Gordon and Mark Stewart are next into the velodrome from 15:25hrs (06:25am UK time), as they begin the qualification process for the Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit. The evening session will see sprinters Jack Carlin and Callum Skinner join the action from 19:00hrs (10:02 UK time) as the heats for the Men’s Keirin get underway.
Team Scotland’s Gymnastics squad was celebrating tonight after picking up the bronze medal in the Men’s Team Event.
After getting off to a shaky start on the Pommel Horse, and following Kelvin Cham being ruled out due to injury after a short landing on the Rings, the men rallied and carried out excellent performances on the Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar, before finishing with four impressive Floor performances.
After completing all six apparatus, the men had an overall score of 240.975, putting them in third place behind England on 258.95 and Canada on 248.65.
Speaking about their medal win, Dan Purvis, part of the squad that won Scotland’s first ever Gymnastics team medal at Glasgow 2014, said: “We’re feeling so proud, it was such a big battle. Glasgow was fantastic, but this was a different team, younger and hungrier.
“The aim was to get back onto that podium. It didn’t look great at the start with a shaky Pommel, and then after Vault we really started to buckle down and really hit those routines. Hamish was the steady hand of the team today.
“I’m so proud of Kelvin, he was injured in the British Champs before coming out here, so it was 50/50 if he was going to come, and he’s done so well. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Today’s results mean Hamish Carter and Frank Baines qualify for the Men’s All-Around Individual Final which takes place on Saturday 7 April at 09:00hrs (00:00hrs UK time).
Tomorrow will see Team Scotland’s Women participate in the Team Event, with the action set to begin at 12:00 (03:00 UK time).
Hannah Miley and Ross Murdoch both won silver on the opening night of the Swimming competition at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In front of a near capacity crowd at the Optus Aquatics Centre, Miley went head to head with long-time English rival Aimee Wilmott in the 400m Individual Medley final and the pair put on a thrilling cat and mouse encounter with the lead changing hands several times over the course of the race. Miley showed her strength in the Breaststroke leg and was in the lead with 100m to go. Wilmott however held her nerve and in the last 25m kicked hard taking the touch in 4:34.90. Miley won silver in 4:35.16, while Blair Evans of Australia picked up bronze in 4:38.23.
After the race Miley said: “I can honestly say there was nothing left in the bowl and I’m so glad to say that I’ve come away with a medal. It’s my fourth Games and to be on the podium for the third time is amazing.
“It’s obviously not the gold that everyone was hoping for, but it’s still a medal and I’ve always said it wasn’t about the medals for me. I’m still smiling and really happy with my performance. This is sport. Aimee has been a long-time rival and it’s really wonderful that she’s always kept me on my toes. I hope it was a good race for everyone to watch and we kept it entertaining.
“I said I’d leave nothing in the pot, give it my all and leave everything in the pool and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”
Ross Murdoch also fought hard for silver in the 200m Breaststroke. Leading with 50m to go Murdoch was touched out at the finish by England’s James Wilby who put in a superb final 50m to take the title in 2:08.05. Murdoch came home in 2:08.32 for silver while Australian Matt Wilson won bronze in 2:08.64.
Murdoch said of his achievement; “If I’m honest I’m a bit disappointed not to have got the gold tonight and heard Flower of Scotland sung to me one more time. I did feel a strong sense of pride and honour going out there tonight.
“That was bitterly close, only three tenths in it, but I don’t want anybody to stand here and feel sorry for me. A year and a half ago I was a completely different man so I’m absolutely delighted to be stood here with a medal round my neck.”
Scottish athletes Craig Benson and Calum Tait finished 6th and 7th respectively.
In other events it was an eighth place finish for Stephen Milne in the 400m Freestyle and Lucy Hope in the 200m Freestyle, while Sean Campsie and Scott McLay finished 12th and 13th respectively for the 50m Butterfly.
Keanna MacInnes showed promise on her Team Scotland debut with back to back PBs in the 100m Butterfly. The 16-year old finished 11th overall giving her confidence ahead of her preferred distance of 200m Butterfly, which starts on Monday.
Corrie Scott finished 9th after the semi-finals of the 50m Breaststroke and is first reserve for tomorrow’s final, while Craig McNally finished 10th overall for 100m Backstroke and is also on the reserves list for tomorrow’s final.
Friday will see double Olympic silver medalist, Duncan Scott start his Commonwealth Games campaign with the 200m Freestyle. He’ll be joined by team-mates Craig McLean and Stephen Milne. The Breaststroke trio of Murdoch, Benson and Tait return to the pool in the 100m event, while Lucy Hope also returns to the action in the heats of the 50m Freestyle.
Mark Szaranek, fresh from the NCAAs, makes his Team Scotland debut in the 400m Individual Medley, while the youngest member of Team Scotland, Toni Shaw, also makes her debut in the S9 100m Backstroke.
Kathleen Dawson and Cassie Wild will contest the heats of the 100m Backstroke while Scotland’s men will contest 4x100m Freestyle.
Team Scotland tipped-off their Basketball campaign in style as the sport made its return to the Commonwealth Games for the first time in twelve years. A 77-65 win over England got the team’s Pool B campaign off to the perfect start.
It seemed fitting that Gareth Murray would lead the way, scoring the first three points of the game. Murray had an impressive outing as he became Scotland’s only Basketball player to date to have played at two Commonwealth Games.
It was Rob Beveridge’s first game in charge as Head Coach of Scotland and in a fast-paced first half, it was clear the side were still trying to adjust.
Speaking after the victory, Beveridge dedicated his first win as Scotland coach to his father who is unwell: “That was an amazing effort from all of the guys involved. The team chemistry out there tonight was so special. When I went back in to that locker room after the win and looked around the room, it really made my heart pound because I knew how important this was for my family and for my dad.”
An intense first half came to a close with Scotland just in front and, with the game hanging in the balance at the break, the score was 35-32.
Scotland controlled the tempo of the game following the half-time interval and were the stronger of the two sides at the start of the second half. The team’s defence provided England with a fresh headache at the start of the third quarter as Scotland increased their lead to ten.
A late run at the end of the third quarter brought the English right back into the game and a buzzer-beating three pointer from England cut Scotland’s lead to just 1 with ten minutes to play. Mike Vigor struggled early in the game but went on to steal the show in the final quarter, connecting on a number of crucial shots to edge Scotland over the finish line, ending an 11-game losing streak against England.
Vigor, who made his official debut for Scotland, finished the game with 14 points and said: “It was a real honour and I was proud to be running out there for my first game as part of Team Scotland. There was a few nerves kicking about the room and that transferred into the first half but we did a great job in the second half. Getting that first win against England is massive with the whole rivalry and with it being our first game. It’s now time to focus on the next one so we can continue to enjoy the Games even more.”
It was 12 years in the waiting for GB Olympian and Team Scotland Captain, Kieron Achara, having missed out on Melbourne 2006. Speaking after the game, Achara said: “Our goal is to medal in the tournament, so we’ve got a long way to go. We’re going to celebrate tonight but then get refocused on our next two games”
Scotland, who now sit top of Pool B, will face Cameroon on Saturday in their second Pool B match.
Team Scotland’s Beach Volleyball players took a step closer to their historic debut at the Commonwealth Games when they arrived at Coolangatta and visited the competition venue for the first time.
The experienced pairing of Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts have been out training on the competition court and are impressed with the set up.
“The venue is spectacular with the high rises in the background and the setting is beautiful with the sea and the waves. We’d seen photos before, but nothing quite prepares you until you’ve seen it for yourself” said Beattie.
Coutts added “It’s good to get here – to feel the sand and the wind swirling around.”
Both women are feeling good ahead of the competition starting tomorrow, but won’t be resting on their laurels.
“It’s a tough pool. We have Australia as the hosts, Cyprus who we have played before and Grenada who are really unknown to us” said Coutts.
But the Scotland team have also had some tough conditions to train in that will have served to test their determination even further. The Scottish winter saw both men’s and women’s pairs convince a farmer in Edinburgh to provide access to his barn to create an indoor court for training.
“Winter has been tough. The Games haven’t come at a good time from that point of view for us, we would obviously want to be training outside” said Coutts.
“You can be as hardy as you want, but if the sand is freezing, you can’t go out and play, which is why the barn has worked so well for us” added Beattie. “Warm weather was always in our plans and we travelled to a tournament in Florida last month and felt ready for the Gold Coast after that”.
Arriving in Australia last week, helped cement this preparation further.
Coutts said “We had six solid days on the Sunshine Coast, which was fantastic. The training venues and exhibition matches were perfect preparation – it couldn’t have been better”.
Although focused on the task ahead, the significance of Beach Volleyball’s debut at the Commonwealth Games has not been lost.
“It’s great to be part of the Commonwealth Games. Beach Volleyball is a sport that deserves to be here – it’s good to watch – dynamic, quick, entertaining, with a different, party atmosphere, where people are encouraged to cheer”, said Coutts.
Beattie agrees and firmly believes the sport’s debut at the Games will make an impact beyond the next couple of weeks, not just on the Gold Coast, but back in Scotland.
“I think it’s massive. Young people need players to aspire to be like. We’re competing against sports like football and rugby that are in the news all the time and it’s events like this that help to inspire and show that there are opportunities in our sport.”
The men’s pair of Robin Miedzybrodzki and Seain Cook also got a taste of the 4000 seater venue and were equally impressed.
“It was crazy walking in to it all – the whole set up right here on beach is fantastic” said Miedzybrodzki. When you walk on to centre court, it gives you goosebumps thinking about walking out in front of a crowd that size”.
“Ever since we found out about Beach Volleyball being included in the Commonwealth Games, Seain and I have been talking about how we do it, how we come together to train and prepare, first of all for qualification. Once we qualified in September, we stepped it up to another level.”
As if training in the Scottish winter is not challenging enough, the pair also have to navigate the fact that Cook lives in Holland, while Miedzybrodzki lives in Edinburgh.
“It takes a lot of logistical planning, but Seain plays volleyball in Holland every day in his indoor team at a very high level and he’s taken the transition to Beach very well”, Miedzybrodzki added.
Looking ahead to the competition next week, Cook said: “We’re feeling pretty confident with the pool. We trained with Canada, so we’ve seen them. We’ve seen Sierra Leone, but not a lot of Sri Lanka.”
Miedzybrodzki concluded: “We’ve got to go out there and play at our top level and hopefully we do and it brings us close to the top of our pool and we go on to fight it out in the later rounds. It’s one match at a time, one set at a time, one contact at a time.”
Team Scotland’s men are second match on court on Friday 6 April against Sri Lanka at 11:30hrs (02:30hrs UK time) time, swiftly followed by the women taking on Grenada at 12:30 (03:30hrs UK time) the same day.
Team Scotland’s badminton players were quick off the mark, winning both their matches on day one of competition. They wasted very little time in getting the better of Pakistan in their opening Mixed Team match. Setting the tone in the Mixed Doubles were Alex Dunn and Eleanor O’Donnell, the young duo racing through their match to win 21-12, 21-13, the first winners of any Badminton contest at Gold Coast 2018.
O’Donnell summed up their efforts: “The nerves showed a little bit right at the start as for both of us. It’s our first Games, so just getting out on court and playing our first match was good; we settled down well, got a good lead and won the match.”
Kieran Merrilees and Kirsty Gilmour made light work of their Singles matches to wrap up the best-of-five tie, meaning the pressure was off by the time the Doubles parings of Martin Campbell & Patrick MacHugh and O’Donnell & Julie MacPherson took to court to confirm a 5-0, straight games victory.
Back in action later in the day, Team Scotland took on one of the surprise packages in Sri Lanka, who had pushed favourites India hard in the morning session. With the same order of play as the morning, the first game was always going to be the closest and it proved to be the match of the day as it went deep into the third game. With both sides having chances to win it, Dunn and O’Donnell were unlucky to lose out 17-21, 21-16, 25-27.
The Singles ties put Scotland back in the driving seat, with Merrilees and Gilmour producing business-like performances. Gilmour was a class above her opponent but Merrilees was playing quality opposition, straight after that roller-coaster Mixed Doubles game.
“That was a crazy game and it was hard to warm up,” he said. I was keeping an eye on the score but trying not to get too emotionally involved because I knew my game was going to be a big one for the team. My opponent was very experienced and I think at London 2012 he made the last 16 – he’s a lot better than his ranking would tell you, so I knew it was going to be a hard game and I wasn’t expecting to win as comfortably as that.”
Dunn was back on court for the Men’s Doubles alongside his partner Adam Hall, the duo in fine form and good value for their straight games win. With the tie in the bag and Team Scotland’s place in the quarter-finals assured regardless of the result against India at 14:00hrs (07:00 hrs in the UK) tomorrow, Gilmour and MacPherson won the Women’s Doubles to secure a 4-1 win on the night.