AQUATICS
Scotland’s Grace Reid competes tomorrow in the 3m springboard event, on the final day of action in the pool.
ATHLETICS
It was the final night of track and field action in Delhi tonight and the Scots were out to collect a few more medals in front of the amazing crowd that has supported the athletes all week.
Henrietta Paxton competed in the women’s pole vault but failed to record a height.
It was equally disappointing for James Campbell in the javelin final who could only manage 6th place with a throw of 72.04m.
First on track was Alastair Hay in the final of the 1500m. He finished in 12th place in a time of 3.4461 but was delighted to have made the final and was enthused by his Games experience, ready to build on it for 2014.
Freya Murray and Steph Twell, who won bronze in the 1500m earlier in the week, went head to head in the 5000m. Freya battled the three Kenyans and crossed the line in 4th (16.03.91) while Freya dropped off the pace for a 7th placing (16.26.22).
Last up was the women’s 4X400m relay. Scotland chose a team consisting of Gemma Nicol leading off, Eilidh Child second lap, followed by Kathryn Evans and Lee McConnell bringing up the rear. The atmosphere was electric as the Indian quartet took gold, the Scottish girls finished 6th (3.30.91).
Martin Williams is the final athlete for Scotland still to compete. He will run in Thursday’s marathon which begins at 06.30hrs.
See main news story for more information.
BADMINTON
There was disappointment for Susan Egelstaff tonight when she was beaten by the top seed and world number three Saina Nehwal in the semi finals of the women’s singles. Egelstaff came out fighting and the first game was close in the initial stages until, with the scores level at 8-8, Nehwal stepped up a gear and pulled away to win the game 21-10. The second was close all the way through but Nehwal took it 21-17.
After the match Egelstaff said: “I just gave away too many cheap points tonight. I’m disappointed but it’s good that I’ve got this far and I have another match tomorrow for the bronze medal.
“Tomorrow I have Liz Cann and she’s a different player from Nehwal. I just need to make sure I make her work hard and don’t give her any cheap points.”
Egelstaff will play Cann in the bronze medal play-off in what is a repeat of the play-off match four years ago in Melbourne, which Egelstaff won. It will be the third match of the session which is due to start at 1630hrs local time.
BOXING
There was no action in the ring today as fighters prepare for tomorrow’s gold medal bouts. Josh Taylor is first up for Scotland at 1545hrs against England’s Thomas Stalker for the Lightweight title. Light heavyweight Callum Johnson then faces Thomas McCarthy of Northern Ireland at 1645hrs. Stephen Simmons will collect bronze in the heavyweight medal ceremony at 2100hrs.
GYMNASTICS
Team Scotland’s only rhythmic gymnast, 16 year old Vicky Clow from Glasgow, skilfully composed four routines using the ball, ribbon, hoop and rope where she was ranked 14th overall.
She said, “I’m really pleased with my routines. I had one little glitch when using the hoop; I dropped it doing a spin, but I didn’t let it distract me and just continued. I got a minor for that but all in all I’m happy with how I did.
“I never actually thought I’d get to be part of these Games, as I’d injured myself a couple of times and I didn’t see it happening, so I really appreciate being here. It’s absolutely fantastic. I love being up on the podium and listening to the crowd and this is such an amazing arena; it looked massive when I walked in but once I got started all I focused on was the performance.
“The second round was awesome, I enjoy the ribbon and the ball is my best routine performance-wise, so having them together like that was great for me. I can’t wait until tomorrow now to get out there again in the all round.”
Tomorrow, Clow will compete in the individual rhythmic all round competition at 1400hrs.
LAWN BOWLS
Paul Foster and Claire Johnston had their last day of pool matches in the singles competition today with both aiming to make the semi-final play-offs.
Foster went down to 2-0 to South Africa in his first match then beat India 2-0. Paul won his critical final match against Samoa 2-0, to get him into the next stages of competition.
Claire opened her day with win over Botswana and followed it up with a tie-break win over Norfolk Island to secure her place in the semi-final play-off. She’ll play New Zealand at 9am while Foster takes on Wales.
HOCKEY (M)
The men’s hockey team had failed to get on the score sheet in their four group matches but more than made up for that when they put seven past Trinidad and Tobago this morning to secure 9th position in the competition.
After a nervous start, the team settled when Cameron Fraser opened the scoring with a goal on the break. Ten minutes later Niall Stott scored from a well taken penalty corner to keep them 2-0 ahead until halftime.
T&T didn’t give up and Alistair McGregor was forced to stay focused and make a few saves but Scotland continued to attack on the break and were rewarded for their efforts.
Second half goals from Kenneth Bain (2), Allan Forsyth, William Marshall and Captain Chris Nelson sealed a confidence-boosting win for the team. They had played well throughout the pool stages but had tough opposition in the shape of Australia, Pakistan, India and Malaysia.
Stephen Dick was awarded his 100th cap today and was thrilled it was on a winning match.
He said, “We played really well. After a tough pool week we needed to score. We put in a really good performance, got some good goals and getting my 100th cap today just sealed things off. It’s been a good learning experience for us all and we’ve had a great time.”
RUGBY
Scotland lost out on a semi-final place losing narrowly 10-7 to South Africa, the eventual bronze medal winners.
They picked themselves up and overcame a strong Kenyan side after extra time in the semi-final of the plate (22-17).
The final showdown was against reigning IRB Series Champions Samoa who dominated the match and lifted the plate.
Scotland ends their most successful Commonwealth Games campaign in 6th position. New Zealand, Australia and South African take the gold, silver and bronze respectively.
See match reports for more information.
SHOOTING
There were another two gold medals for the shooters today as Jen McIntosh won the 50m prone singles event, before Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond topped the rankings in the men’s 50m prone pairs competition. See news story for more information.
Elsewhere Drew Christie and Ian Marsden competed in stage one of the skeet singles competition, where they currently sit seventh and 12th respectively. Ian Shaw and Angus McLeod continued in the full-bore competition and now sit 21st and tenth.
It’s the final day of shooting tomorrow with seven athletes in action across the two ranges. Neil Stirton and Jon Hammond both compete in the 50m prone singles, and will be looking to add to their medal tally for the Games. Drew Christie and Ian Marsden complete the skeet singles competition, while Angus McLeod and Ian Shaw finish the full-bore open. Pistol shooter Caroline Brownlie is also in action in the 10m air pistol event.
SQUASH
In the quarter finals of the mixed doubles Lisa Aitken and Harry Leitch went out courtesy of an 11/3 11/3 loss to Australians Donna Urquhart and David Palmer. Leitch was back in action later on in the semi finals of the men’s doubles with Alan Clyne, once again against Australian opponents – Palmer and Stewart Boswell. A match of extraordinary doubles which lasted an hour and 24 minutes saw the Scots go out 11/10 11/6 but they still have a shot at the bronze medal on Wednesday when the face the other beaten semi-finalists, Ryan Cuskelly and Cameron Pilley, in the play-off match at 1315hrs local time.
After the match Leitch said: “They are two of the best players around but we always thought we could cause them some problems and I think we did. They won the crucial points today but we will come back fighting tomorrow – we can’t wait.
“The great thing about being in Team Scotland is that there are 16 sports and we all look after each other so tonight we had some of the hockey team and the tennis team cheering for us and it’s an incredible experience. It really helped us. The support staff have been great too and we want to repay everyone by winning tomorrow.”
Clyne agreed: “We played pretty well and worked as a team. In the first game there was only one point in it and that’s just the way it goes. We were a bit unlucky at the end of that game but I thought we played well. I thought we had the momentum in the first but it just didn’t quite go our way.
“We came here for a medal and we still have that chance. We will definitely be going for it tomorrow.”