Gold as Scotland Sweep the Para Bowls Events
Melanie Inness and Robert Barr, with their directors Sarah Jane Ewing and George Miller, won gold in the Para Mixed Pairs B2/B3 to complete a Team Scotland sweep of the Para Lawn Bowls events.
Following victory for Kevin Wallace and Garry Brown in the Men’s B6-B8 Pairs on Thursday and Rosemary Lenton and Pauline Wilson taking the women’s equivalent on Friday, Barr, Inness, Miller and Ewing made it three from three, running out comfortable winners 16-9. At 75, George Miller becomes the oldest gold medallist in Commonwealth Games history.
It was a repeat of the bronze medal match of Gold Coast, where Scotland lost to Wales, but this time Scotland took the medals, and they were gold. It was a tight contest in the early stages but from the eighth end things started to move in Scotland’s favour, before they pulled away to secure a fine victory after the 14th end.
Iain McLean is through to the men’s singles semi-finals after an exceptional 21-4 quarter final victory over Ryan Bester of Canada. McLean was on fine form from the outset and surged into an uncatchable lead, with the match ending after the 14th end. McLean faces defending Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aaron Wilson of Australia in the semi-final. Meanwhile, the men’s fours were knocked out at the quarter final stage by Northern Ireland in a close 18-15 defeat.
The second day of Diving saw a handful of Scots in the pool across the afternoon and evening. James Heatly and Ross Beattie gave it their all in the Men’s Synchronised 3m Springboard final, unfortunately coming up just short of the podium in fourth place.
Later in the day Grace Reid and Clara Kerr took on the Women’s 1m Springboard Final after qualifying in the morning session. Both improved significantly on their qualifying scores, with Grace finishing in fourth place with 268.15 points, and Clara in eighth with 239.95 points.
Over in Arena Birmingham, Louise Christie was back in action in the Rhythmic Gymnastics All-Around Final. Performing again with all four Apparatus, Louise improved on her score of 103.9 points from yesterday’s qualification, ending the day in 10th place with 104.6 points. She’ll be performing in tomorrow’s Clubs and Ribbon Finals – the first time a Scottish Rhythmic gymnast has performed in an Apparatus Final since 1994!
Lynne Beattie and Mel Coutts took to the sand at Smithfield to play their Beach Volleyball Quarter-Final against Australia. The match against the Olympic silver medallists was always going to be tough, but the Scottish pair fought hard and initially took a four point lead in the first set. Despite playing their hearts out, the Australians proved their position as one of the best teams in the world and took a 2-0 (21-22, 21-11) win, ending Scotland’s Beach Volleyball competition.
In the men’s squash doubles Greg Lobban and Rory Stewart defeated Tayyab Aslam and Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan 2-1 to reach the quarter finals. Douglas Kempsell and Alan Clyne were defeated 2-1 in a tense match by Velavan Senthilkumar and Abhay Singh of India.
Lisa Aitken and Georgia Adderley lost their quarter final women’s doubles match 2-0 to England. Then in the mixed double quarter final, Greg Lobban, alongside Lisa Aitken, came up against his wife Donna Lobban, with Cameron Pilley, of Australia. It was a very competitive match with Scotland winning the first game, and Australia the second, but it was the Aussies who ran out 2-1 winners. The final match of the day saw Georgia Adderley and Rory Stewart face Joelle King and Paul Coll of New Zealand, but it was New Zealand who came out on top in a 2-0 win.
The NEC played host to Netball, Badminton and Table Tennis action on Day Eight. The Netball team took part in a Classification Match following their Pool stage, and finished in a respectable 9th place after defeating Northern Ireland by 43 goals to 33. Badminton Round of 16 matches were also contested throughout the day, with Kirsty Gilmour; Julie MacPherson and Adam Hall progressing to the Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles Quarter Finals on Saturday after overcoming opponents from the Isle of Man and Uganda. Despite valiant efforts, Callum Smith, Matt Grimley, Eleanor O’Donnell, Chris Grimley, Ciara Torrance and Alex Dunn were unable to join their teammates, as they were beaten by players from England, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada.
There was further disappointment in Table Tennis, as Colin Dalgleish, Gavin Rumgay, Lucy Elliott and Rebecca Plaistow were knocked out of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles respectively by participants from Nigeria and India.