Elsewhere for Team Scotland on day four…
ATHLETICS – TRACK AND FIELD
Team Scotland will have three women in the hammer final on Monday evening with Susan McKelvie, Rachel Hunter and Myra Perkins all making it into the top 12 in qualification on the opening day of track and field action at Hampden.
McKelvie missed out on making the last two Commonwealth Games by centimetres and she was delighted that one 62m throw was enough to earn her fifth place in qualifying, with her two other throws fouls.
“I am in the final and that was the target. Luckily, one throw was enough for me after waiting a few years to throw for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.
“There were a few things wrong technically but I’ve qualified in fifth place and feel there is more to come. It is great we’ve three Scots in the final.”
Hunter reached 61.91, improving in each of her three throws. Myra Perkins only just squeezed through in 12th place with 57.70.
Luke Caldwell finished 13th in his 5000m final and was blown away by the noise of the home crowd – with the Oxford graduate due back in the 10,000m on Friday night.
Caldwell’s time of 13.43.75 was short of his PB for 5,000m as he was watched at Hampden by his 92-year-old grandfather and other family.
He said: “Those guys are pretty good! I feel I’m just reaching to get to the level – I can hang in there for about 4k and then the last 1k is tough.
“The reception was really quite amazing. I tried to tell myself it was just another race and I wasn’t really ready for the Hampden noise. It is just mad.
“I feel I am in decent shape and I’ll do it all again in the 10,000m on Friday.”
SHOOTING
It was back down to business today for Scotland’s Queen’s Pairs Bronze medallists in Fullbore, Ian Shaw and Angus McLeod, this time against each other in the Fullbore Individual event.
After three of the five distances both Scots are lying in the middle of the pack, but know the event’s true test comes when they shoot over the longer 900m and 1,000m distances.
“You can lose it at the shorter distances,” said Shaw, but it’s at the longer distances that it’s won.”
Tomorrow is a big day all round at the ranges, with Team Scotland’s Jon Hammond and Jen McIntosh both shooting in the 50m Rifle Prone disciplines in which they each won Individual Gold in Delhi.
Competing against Hammond will be Neil Stirton, with whom he also won Gold in the 50m Prone Pairs in 2010. Sarah Henderson will be the fourth shooter competing tomorrow in the 50m Rifle with the women’s event a straight final, whilst the men go through qualification first.
In Pistol, Alan Ritchie and Alan Goodall will be shooting in the 50m Small Bore event, whilst in Shotgun, Delhi Silver medallist Shona Marshall will be looking to go one further in Women’s Trap when she steps out to represent Team Scotland in her fourth Commonwealth Games.
BOXING
Charlie Flynn (60kg) got his campaign off to a great start today with a unanimous decision victory over the Australian boxer Nick Cooney. In his second fight in as many days, Josh Taylor (64kg) also collected a unanimous decision victory over Richarno Collin from Mauritius.
In the evening session, Reece McFadden (52kg) put in another stunning performance to defeat England’s Charlie Edwards, with yet another unanimous decision for Team Scotland.
Scott Forrest (81kg) fought a tough bout against David Nyika. Scott started well but couldn’t overcome the Kiwi.
Stephen Lavelle (91kg), fighting second to last, came up against Welshman Kody Davies in a spectacular contest. Stephen was composed and landed some big punches in all three rounds to take the unanimous victory.
Aqeel Ahmed (49), Joe Ham (56) and Kieran Smith (75) will get their Commonwealth Games campaigns underway at the SECC tomorrow.
NETBALL
Scotland’s netballers faced another tough challenge in Jamaica in the third match of the Commonwealth Games. The girls sit 4th in the pool after a 68-26 defeat, but will be looking to climb back up after the match against Malawi on Tuesday evening.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Georgi Black was Scotland’s second weightlifter to take to the Clyde Auditorium, with the local hero pulling in a huge crowd. With a firs lift of 75kg in the snatch and then an impressive 100kg in the Clean & Jerk, Georgi set a new Scottish record of a total 175kg to finish 9th.
RUGBY SEVENS
Scotland 7s were unable to add to Team Scotland’s medal haul at Ibrox today, losing out to South Africa in the medal quarter-finals, 35-12, and then England, in the fifth to eighth place play-off, 15-12, in the Glasgow 2014 Rugby Sevens tournament.
Despite fighting back in both games, with enormous encouragement from a capacity crowd, from three tries down in both first halves they were unable to rise to the occasion and were defeated by two better sides.
Mark Bennett did however show that he is the rising star of Scottish rugby with a brilliant display in both matches and two tries.
Scotland 7s head coach, Stephen Gemmell, who will now step down from his role, as planned, with the abbreviated national team, said: “We have been punished for our errors today. You cannot give England and South Africa the leads we gave them before starting to play. Momentum in the short game is massive and we’ve just not been able to establish that. We have done too little too late.
“On the bright side the atmosphere this weekend has been unbelievable and I have no doubt that Glasgow 2014’s Rugby Sevens tournament will have done wonders for the short game in Scotland. I know the players have given everything they have and it has been an honour for me to lead them this last time.
“I’d like to thank the huge Scottish support this weekend who continually got behind us.”
The Rugby 7s tournament has been played in-front of a World record crowd, with 171,000 (20,000 more than Melbourne) spectating across the two days of competition.
HOCKEY
Team Scotland felt the full force of Australia’s penalty corner expertise, conceding seven goals from set-plays during a 9-0 defeat in Pool B of the Women’s Hockey competition at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre.
Jodie Kenny executed a hat-trick of penalty corner strikes, with Anna Flanagan also bagging a brace from short corner opportunities.
Ashleigh Nelson and Brooke Peris were credited with goals from penalty corners, while Emily Smith and Jade Taylor completed the scoring with a field goal each in the final concluding minutes of the match.
Scotland Captain Linda Clement was disappointed but upbeat with two more matches to come against Wales and England, adding, “Disappointed with today, I think we showed in spells that we can compete with a side like Australia but we didn’t sustain it in enough periods of the match to have enough impact on the game. We were just beaten by a very good side.
“Seven of the goals were from short corners that were very well executed. I don’t think there were any scrappy goals.
“We now need to draw line under the Australia result and focus on the Welsh game. We are still in this tournament and have suffered a heavy defeat but we will be looking to take things forward and be hoping to get a positive performance and a positive result.”
The Scots are positioned third in Pool B after today’s game, knowing that a win against Wales tomorrow will keep them in contention for a top-two finish and a semi-final place.
Australia have now qualified for the semi-finals after three wins, scoring twenty-two goals without reply in the process, and look very much the Gold medal candidates at this stage.
Photo Credit: Mark Shearman