Highlights on Day 3 included a first ever Scottish gold in the All-Around for gymnast Reuben Ward, gold in the pool for Angharad Evans and a crucial win for Team Scotland’s netball squad over Wales. There was action across seven sports as the rounds continued in bowls, basketball and boxing, while weightlifting got underway with the Women’s 48kg event.

Gymnastics

Reuben Ward took a sensational gold in the Men’s All-Around, with team mate Cameron Lynn in 11th. Read more HERE.

In the Women’s All-Around, Crystelle Lake got her competition off to a flying start, both literally and figuratively on the Uneven Bars, a superb routine with a high degree of difficultly scoring highly with the judges. Elle Cheetham also made a really positive start on that apparatus, improving on her score in the Team Event on Saturday.

Onto the Beam, and Lake improved by 1.1 points compared with her effort the previous day, but unfortunately there were a couple of errors from Cheetham in that one, but just being in a Commonwealth Games final surpassed all her expectations.

On the Floor both women delivered nice routines, before finishing on the Vault. Cheetham was first up, and she saved her best until last, a great vault scoring 13.05, and she finished the competition with a beaming smile on her face.
It was a similar story for Lake, who finished with a really strong vault; at the end of proceedings Lake would finish 9th, with Cheetham in 17th.

Afterwards, Lake said: “It was so fun. We’re competing with girls we’ve looked up to as young gymnasts, so to be part of that final was surreal. The crowd spurred us on throughout the whole competition. We knew it would be loud, but didn’t know it would be that loud!”

Cheetham added: “Looking back at it now, I’m so proud to have got through to today, never mind to be here competing at all. It wasn’t the best day for me, but do you know what, it was all about doing my best and coming out of the competition with a smile on my face. To do it with Crystelle was an amazing experience.”

Monday will see both Cameron Lynn and Reuben Ward back in action in the Individual Apparatus Finals at 13:00. Both men go in the Pommel – Ward topping the charts in qualifying– Ward will also contest the Floor. On Tuesday they’re both in action again, Lynn in the High Bar and Ward in the Parallel Bars.

Swimming

A stunning gold for Angharad Evans on her Commonwealth games debut led results in the pool on Day 3. Read more HERE.

Archie Goodburn will go in his first ever Commonwealth final on Monday after placing 7th in the semi final of the 50m Breaststroke. In the Women’s 100m Butterfly final there will be 3 Scots in medal contention with Keanna MacInnes, Ciara Schlosshan and Lucy Grieve all raked inside the top 6 heading into Monday’s showdown.

Also in action will be Duncan Scott in the 200m Butterfly, looking to add to his 14 Commonwealth medals, whilst Evie Davis looks in fine form heading into the 100m Freestyle final.

Netball

Scotland took a huge 56-47 win over Wales in their group stage match. Read more HERE. Scotland now face Trinidad and Tobago on Monday evening in another vital match as the group stage continues.

Bowls

Jason Banks took a tie-break win in his Men’s Singles match against Wales. It was a rollercoaster game that saw him lose the first set 4-11, before rallying to win the second set 12-1 and go on to take the tie-break.

Jason said: “It was just a crazy match. I managed to get the last two ends in the first set, which gave me a bit of confidence. In the second set I changed the length and just started getting the bowls in. The home support is a huge help, they just spur you on that wee bit extra having a home crowd behind your back.”

Caroline Brown and Beth Riva pushed Malaysia close in the Women’s Pairs but just missed out to the pair who have gone undefeated in the competition so far.

Caroline said: “It was a tough night for us. Malaysia have a really good side and we had a really tough match. We’ve got another match tomorrow to finish off our group and I think Beth and I can’t be disappointed in some of the performances that we’ve had over the last few days. It’s been a very, very high level here and we’re well equipped. I think we need to take that positive from it. We’ll take the time once this is over and reflect on it.”

Beth added: “I’m gutted just now but I think I’ll reflect on this as a great experience and a great opportunity to be here and represent Team Scotland. It’s a huge privilege, I’m delighted to be here and I can’t thank our support team, my family, my friends enough for getting me here.”

Robert Barr and Mary Stevenson with directors Sarah Jane Ewing and Jim Aitken, had already qualified for the semi-finals in the bowls Mixed Para Pairs B2/B3 VI, but lost to Wales in their last sectional match, resulting in a second place finish in the section.

The Scottish form was strong from the start of the match as they took the first set 6-1, then carried that momentum into the second set by racing into a 2-0 lead. Wales bit back quickly, however, and went on to take the second set 7-3, leading the game to a tie breaker. The tense tie break didn’t go Scotland’s way and Wales earned the win, and a top place finish in the section.

Team Scotland’s Para Mixed B2/B3 VI Pairs will play New Zealand in the semi-finals, which take place on Monday evening. Jason Banks plays Tolchard of England at 09:55 on Monday morning with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs, while the Women’s Pairs round out their group against the Cook Islands.

Boxing

Stephanie Kernachan lived out a lifetime dream of stepping into the ring at the Commonwealth Games this morning in her 54kg bantam weight fight against Scarlett Savan Delgado of Canada. After a slow start Steph found her rhythm in the third round but it was too late to pull back the scores.

Disappointed with her performance but positive about the overall experience she said: “I am devastated. This has been a lifetime of hard work and dedication. I was desperate to get going but I let the occasion get the better of me at the start. I felt that my experience started to shine through and in the third round I had nothing to lose and just went for it.

“There was no women fighting in 2014, my weight category wasn’t in 2018 and I’d retired by 2022 so to get here and finally get my dream it’s just really hard that it’s over so soon. But I say, ‘try, try, try again’ and that’s what I’ve done and if I can stay injury free maybe I’ll be back in 2030.”

In the evening fight Leo Church was back in the ring for the 65kg round of 16. Facing Emmanuel Katema of Zambia he lost in a split decision but gave it his all.

After the battle he said: “This is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. The support I’ve had has meant the world. All the messages and the people who’ve made the effort to come and support me, it’s been incredible. I didn’t get the result today that I had hoped for but I am proud of what I’ve achieved.”

Basketball 3×3

It was another exciting day on court for Scotland with three of our four teams back in action.

The men’s running team started with a 21-16 victory over Nigeria to secure their place in the next stage of the competition. Their evening games against New Zealand was a tougher task and they went down 21-13 but they are growing in confidence and working better as a team with every match.

Kyle Jiminez said after the morning win: “We watched our previous games back and knew what we needed to improve and what worked well and I think we implemented that today.We stuck together as a group and we wanted to send a message to the other teams that we are here to win a medal.”

They have a rest day on Monday and will wait to hear who they face in Tuesday’s play-ins when Pool B concludes.

The women’s wheelchair team destroyed India 21-4 with a few seconds to spare.
They play their final group match against Wales on Monday evening to determine who tops their group.

Kayli English said: “We pulled it out today. We’ve got a good group of girls and we just work hard for each other. The more we play together, the more comfortable we are.

“Robyn’s influence is massive. She pretty much is the game plan. She tells us where we are going, sets the plan for the day and helps us get there.”

The men’s wheelchair team took down Malaysia 18-6 and were delighted with their performance in front of a thunderous home crowd. They too play Wales on Monday evening, vying to make it three wins from three and top their group.

Shayne Humphries said: “We started from the jump today and we are leaving that game very happy. Our aim is to win with 21 points but we got 18 today and we will take that. We got our nerves out at the start of our first game where we didn’t play to the best of our ability but today was one of our best performances.”

Weightlifting

Alex Mackay opened the Games for the Scottish weightlifting contingent, competing in the women’s 48kg category.

With a spring in her step, and buoyed by the vocal home crowd, Mackay began with the snatch. 58kg was lifted with ease as three white lights shot onto the board to get her going with confidence. Her second attempt, 61kg was also lifted well, but 63kg on her third attempt was unfortunately unsuccessful.

In the clean and jerk, successful lifts at 78kg then 81kg were met with huge cheers from the crowd, and although 84kg wasn’t to be, she was very close to breaking her personal best. She finished the competition in seventh overall.

She now goes on to start her career as a junior doctor on Wednesday this week, beginning her inductions in Newcastle.

Alex said: “That was so much fun, I had such a good time. The goal for this competition was to enjoy myself, have a crack at PBs if the opportunity arises, but that was incredible. Being part of a multi-sports Games is something we don’t get the opportunity to do often, so, I also want to get around some other sports and just take the whole thing in.

“The journey has not been straight forward at all for me, there’s been lots of challenges along the way and it’s kind of started from the beginning of the year onwards. I’ve had a few injuries and medals and lots of life changes. I finished uni, started a new job, moving place; there’s been lots and lots of background things going on, so trying to keep that separate from weightlifting and just focus on what I can do in the gym and the performances I can put out, I just had to do my best, whether or not that would be enough, and it was. I’m really proud to be here today and represent Scotland.”

The weightlifting competition continues to Scotland tomorrow with Corey Duncan (71kg) in the morning and Ian Wilson (79kg) in the evening session.

Athletics

The athletics programme gets underway at Scotstoun Stadium on Monday 27 July, kicking off six days of track and field action.

Six athletes will be in finals action on day one, including the 2024 and 2020 Paralympic T20 1500m champions Ben Sandilands and Owen Miller, who will be joined by Steven Bryce in the event. The Scottish trio will be gunning for medals just after 21:00.

2024 European bronze medallist Megan Keith will contest the women’s 10,000m final which is the first women’s track final of the Games. Chris Bennett, in his fourth and final major Games for Scotland, takes to the hammer circle just before 20:00, while Alexander Thomson wraps up the finals action with the men’s T37/38 100m final to end the programme.

The first Scottish representation on Monday morning will be Stephen McKenzie in the men’s long jump qualification rounds at 10:30. He recently broke the Scottish record at the UK Championships and will have his eyes on progressing to Wednesday evening’s medal showdown. Also in field event action is Angela McAuslan-Kelly who goes in women’s hammer qualification rounds.

Jemma Reekie, Mena Scatchard and Erin Wallace round off the day’s action in the women’s 800m heats during the evening session as they target places in Wednesday’s semi-finals.