Elsewhere for Team Scotland on day six…
BADMINTON
Kieran Merrilees eased into the last 32 of the Badminton Men’s Singles at the Emirates Arena, however Jillie Cooper and Paul Van Rietvelde were unable to reach the equivalent round of the Mixed Doubles.
Merrilees, seeded eighth in the men’s competition, secured the match against opponent Richard Cribb from Norfolk Island 21-4 21-3. It was one of the quickest ties of the morning with Merilees taking victory in just 20 minutes and 11 seconds.
Merrilees will now meet Odera Victor Munga from Kenya tomorrow morning, as he looks to add a first Commonwealth Games medal to his men’s singles 2014 Yonex Scottish Nationals title.
He said: “I’m glad to get into a new, fresh competition after the team defeat to Malaysia. Against my opponent I focussed on making the rallies as long as possible to give the crowd something to cheer about. I’m able to train a lot more than players like Richard, playing in the Games will be a great experience for him.
“I have an opportunity to meet Rajiv [Ouseph] of England, who I train with, in the quarter-finals so I’ve set my sights on that match.”
For the Doubles team it was a very close match against Canada’s Adrian Liu and Michelle Li that ended, 13-21 22-24, for the Scots.
Van Rietvelde said: “We have prepared for four years for this, so it’s disappointing to go out in front of a home crowd. I was unable to put in an optimum performance with my ankle, but I had every confidence today in Jillie, and I know she gave everything she had.
“We knew our opponents were going to be good and they played to my weaknesses by moving me around a lot. In the end the small mistakes made the difference.”
BOXING
It was Quarter-Finals day at the SECC with four Scottish fighters in action. In the afternoon session Reece McFadden (52kg) faced Oteng Oteng from Botswana, where he put in another solid performance to guarantee a medal in the Flyweight category.
Ross Henderson (+91kg) was up next against England’s Joe Joyce and the two Super Heavyweights put in a fantastic performance, with Ross losing out to a knock down in the third round.
In the evening session Charlie Flynn (60kg) and Josh Taylor (64kg) both put in impressive performances to book their places in the semi-finals and guarantee another two medals for Team Scotland.
Aqeel Ahmed (49kg), Joe Ham (56kg) and Stephen Lavelle (91kg) are all in quarter-final action tomorrow.
SQUASH
The Doubles main draw starts tomorrow with Scotland looking likely to have a number of pairs involved. In the Men’s Doubles Alan Clyne and Harry Leitch, top seeds in their group, won both their matches yesterday on the glass court and go through to the last 16. Greg Lobban and Stuart Crawford beat their group top seeds Malaysia 2-1 and have one more pool game today.
In the Women’s Doubles the unranked Frania Gillen-Buchert and Alex Clark gave their top 16 English opponents an impressive challenge, but were just beaten 11-8 11-10. They have two more group games today, one of which is against top seeds New Zealand.
Clyne and Gillen-Buchert won their first mixed doubles pool game and Clark and Kevin Moran have one mixed group game today. Win or lose for Clark and Moran, they will progress to the main draw, following the withdrawal of another team.
NETBALL
In their second last pool match, Scotland’s netball team came up against Malawi in another tough contest at the SECC. Ranked no 5 in the world, it was a tough test for the girls, with the final score, 62-35 to Malawi.
The girls play their final pool match tomorrow against Northern Ireland.
Following the game, players from both sides joined UNICEF ambassador and Commonwealth Baton bearer Monica Dzonzi, the Scottish Government’s Minister for External Affairs and International Development Humza Yousaf and the UK Government’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell for a photo to celebrate the Scotland Malawi Partnership.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Delhi 2010 Silver medallist Peter Kirkbride took to the Clyde Auditorium this evening in the Men’s 94kg category. The 26 year-old took to the platform to a rapturous Scottish welcome and entertained the packed crowd throughout the session. Starting with the snatch, Peter lifted 175kg, though didn’t manage to complete a lift in the Clean & Jerk so will be scored as DNF (Did Not Finish).
Para-sport Powerlifting makes its Games debut on Saturday with Micky Yule set to lift for Team Scotland on Saturday evening.
TABLE TENNIS
The table tennis singles event has reached the main draw stage, with three Scottish men and two women qualifying.
Craig Howieson and Sean Doherty qualified comfortably from the group stages yesterday and progress to the 64 player knockout draw where they join Gavin Rumgay, who goes in direct.
Lynda Flaws won a marathon last match last night 4-3 (11-9 in the last set) to win her group and progress to the main draw. Gillian Edwards and Corinna Whitaker both finished second in their groups and miss out on the main draw.
WRESTLING
Fiona Robertson lost out in the Bronze medal match as the first of three days of Freestyle Wrestling competition got underway at the SECC.
Fiona was overpowered by Cameroon’s Rebecca Muambo, who had earlier defeated Fiona’s twin sister Donna in the women’s 48kg category. Fiona also lost her opening bout, against high-ranked Yana Rattigan of England, but returned to the medal match by virtue of the repechage format.
“I was disappointed not to give the crowd a bit more mat time, but it was a fantastic experience to compete in front of a home crowd,” said Fiona.
In the men’s 57kg category, 17-year-old Brian Harper gained plenty experience, but left frustrated with defeat to Australian Shane Parker, whilst Ross McFarlane went out to Wales’ Craig Pilling in the quarter-final.
There is an all-Scottish clash tomorrow with Jayne Clason and Shannon Hawke facing one another in the 53kg category, whilst Sarah Jones looks to better fourth in Delhi in the 69kg category and Viorel Etko competes in the men’s 61kg competition.
Photo Credit: Duncan McEwan