Day six at the Games brought three more medals for Team Scotland: silver for Neil Stirton at Shooting in the 50m Rifle Prone; silver for swimmer Duncan Scott in the 200m Individual Medley; and bronze for Ian Shaw and Sandy Walker, competing in Shooting’s Fullbore Rifle Pairs. The Scottish medal tally stands at 28 (6 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze).
There was also cause for celebration from Team Scotland’s Basketball players as the team won 66-61 against Nigeria, guaranteeing them a spot in the semi-finals; making them the first ever Scottish team sport to make it to a semi-final in a Commonwealth Games.
For full details, please see the feature pieces on Shooting, Basketball, and Swimming.
Swimming and Weightlifting action concluded today and tomorrow will see the Diving get underway at the Optus Aquatics Centre.
Athletics
Eilish McColgan and Steph Twell contested a fast Women’s 1500m final to round out the third day of athletics action on the Gold Coast, acquitting themselves well to finish sixth and seventh respectively. Hot favourite Caster Semenya eased away from the field on the last lap to win by over two seconds in a Games record of 4.00.71, leaving the rest to fight for the minor medals, and fight the Scots did.
McColgan was well placed with 200m to go, but couldn’t quite find the finishing speed to get her hands on some silverware, finishing just less than a second down on bronze. Twell on the other hand finished like a train for seventh, her 4.05.56 season’s best the quickest she’s run for eight years, and faster than she ran to win bronze at Delhi 2010.
Both women will return to the track for the 5,000m, their specialist distance, on Saturday at 15:20hrs (08:20hrs UK time).
In her first race of 2018 Sammi Kinghorn swapped the sprints for the 1500m and despite battling hard all the way to the line, had to settle for fourth.
Zoey Clark contested the Women’s 400m semi-finals in typically Scottish conditions, withthe rain hammering down on the Carrara Stadium. Despite running a strong race, Clark ended up fourth in 52.06, missing out on a final place by just over half a second. She’ll be back in action in the 4x400m Relay later in the week.
A trio of Scots were in qualifying action earlier in the morning, flagbearer Eilidh Doyle making sure of her place in the Women’s 400m Hurdles Final, despite running blind from lane eight. Using all of her experience, the two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist ran a clean, measured raced to come home clear of the field in 54.80 and ensure she’ll have a good lane for the final on Thursday at 19:30hrs (12:30hrs UK time).
In the men’s 800m it was mixed emotions for Jake Wightman and Guy Learmonth, the former running a mature race to advance automatically to Thursday night’s final, whilst Learmonth was left to rue an injury he picked up earlier this winter, leaving him short of his best form.
Badminton
The individual Badminton action got underway today, with Team Scotland represented in the Men’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Women’s Doubles. In what proved to be a perfect afternoon, Julie MacPherson and Martin Campbell set the ball rolling with a 2-0 victory over Pakistan, then Campbell returned to court with Patrick MacHugh to beat Ghana 2-0 in the Men’s Doubles.
Alex Dunn and Adam Hall also scored a 2-0 win in the same event against the Seychelles, with MacPherson and Eleanor O’Donnell rounding out the straight game victories, also against the Seychelles in the Women’s Doubles.
After a bye in the first round, Singles players Kirsty Gilmour and Kieran Merrilees will get their campaigns underway tomorrow, with the draw taking place later this evening.
Beach Volleyball
Team Scotland’s Beach Volleyball Men’s and Women’s Pairs were in quarter-final action today against England and Canada respectively.
Despite a spirited fightback in the second set, Robin Miedzybrodzki and Seain Cook lost 0-2 to England, ending their Commonwealth Games campaign on the Gold Coast. Speaking of the result, Robin said “We’re pretty disappointed not to hang on to that second set and
push it to a third. We’re very happy with our overall performance in the tournament and to finish fifth, but we would have liked to have got into the semi -final to push for a medal.
“It’s been an amazing journey with Seain and I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s put in to it and all the coaches and supporters back home.”
Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts took on Canada this evening, but the world number one pair proved too much, despite a passionate effort from the Scottish pair who lost 0-2.
“Canada are the number one team in the world. We knew how tough it would be,” said Coutts.
Beattie added “We had a tough draw but we were delighted to have made the quarter-final.”
Boxing
Vicky Glover was first up in the Women’s Featherweight division facing Canadian, Sabrina Aubin-Boucher. It was a tough technical fight that Vicky seemed to have the best of, but the split decision went the way of Canada. Aqeel Ahmed faced the formidable Amit from India, currently ranked eighth in the world. The Kier Hardie boxer fought well but was unable to overcome the experienced Indian.
Scott Forrest then faced his regular sparring partner Cheavon Clarke of England in the final bout of the afternoon session. In a fight that took everything out of both boxers the decision went the way of the Englishman. In the evening session, Stephen Newns faced a lively fighter from Fiji and despite landing a number of punches throughout each round the decision
A further three fighters are in quarter-final action tomorrow with Reece McFadden facing Pakistan’s Syed Muhammad Asif at 14:02hrs (05:02hrs UK time) before John Docherty faces England’s Ben Whittaker at 15:17hrs (06:17hrs UK time). Nathaniel Collins is the final fighter in the ring against home favourite Harry Garside at 20:17hrs (11:17hrs UK time).
Cycling
Team Scotland’s cyclists finished out of the medal reckoning in the Individual Time Trial at the Currumbin Beachfront today. Katie Archibald came closest in fourth behind Katrin Garfoot (AUS), Linda Villumson (NZL) and Hayley Simmods (AUS), with fellow Scot Neah Evans in eighth.
John Archibald finished furthest up the pack in the Men’s event, despite crashing early on in the 38.5km race, when the bike slipped from underneath him on a bend, causing him to slide into the barrier. Battling back heroically to finish in 11th place, the effects of the heat, exhaustion and adrenaline were evident as he crossed the line. Mark Stewart and Kyle Gordon finished 16th and 27th respectively
Hockey
Both Team Scotland’s Men’s and Women’s Hockey squads played their last pool games today ahead of the classification games later in the week.
The men played New Zealand this morning, with forward Alan Forsyth scoring two goals for Scotland. However, the world-class team dominated the game and New Zealand ended with a 5-2 win.
In the evening, the women played a tough game against Australia, the reigning Commonwealth Champions. After 60 minutes of some serious defending from the Scottish women, and more than a few penalty corners for both sides, Australia ended 2-0 up. The classification draw will be made tomorrow night at the conclusion of the pool games.
Lawn Bowls
Darren Burnett played a hat-trick today, first beating Guernsey’s Muhammad Soufi Rusli 21-13, then Brunei Darussalam’s Abd Rahman Omar with a score of 21-8, and rounding the day off with a 21-19 win against Malaysia’s Muhammad Soufi Rusli.
Team Scotland’s B2/B3 Mixed Pairs were beaten 14-8 by Australia, meaning they’ll play Wales tomorrow in the bronze medal final which takes place at 19:00hrs (10:00hrs UK time).
In other preliminary games today, the Women’s Pairs played Brunei Darussalam, walking away with a 32-9 win. The Men’s Fours were up against Singapore, winning 29-5, and the Women’s Triples were defeated by Malaysia, ending the game 17-10 down.
Netball
Team Scotland’s Netballers put on an impressive show in today’s Pool B match-up with Malawi. A red-hot start for Scotland saw the team race ahead in the early stages of the game but Malawi were able to claw it back, giving the packed Gold Coast Convention Centre a game to roar about.
With just twenty-seven seconds left on the clock, Scotland were given a life-line to try and tie the game as Malawi had a player sent off. However, after missing a crucial penalty in the last ten seconds, it was the African side who were able to hold on to their 51-50 win.
Squash
The doubles competitions got underway today at Oxenford Studios with all five Scottish Squash players in action. After injury ruled her out of the Singles, Lisa Aitken made a strong return alongside Kevin Moran in the Mixed Doubles; winning 2-0 against the Cayman Islands.
After the match Kevin said: We’ve proved our quality coming into this event so there’s no reason for us to think otherwise. We didn’t come here to reach the last 16 or the top 8. We’re really going to go for it.”
In the Men’s Doubles, current World silver medallists Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban made light work of their first match against Zambia, winning 2-0 inside 15 minutes.
After the match Alan said: “It’s all coming together. This is the big goal.” Greg added: “It would be the pinnacle of both our careers. We’re hoping to get the gold.”
The Women’s Doubles pair of Lisa Aitken and Alison Thomson faced England in a tough match on the show court. The Scots pair pushed England hard, almost taking the first game. It finished 11-10, and England followed up with the second game to take the match 2-0.
Looking ahead to their second match, Lisa said: “I think we just need to keep on with what we have been practicing, what we’ve been rehearsing and what we have been training for the past three weeks. Beyond that, we know how we want to play, and it’s just focusing on that and making sure we are doing the right things”
Lisa and Alison are first up in the Women’s Doubles tomorrow against the Cayman Islands at 11:45hrs (02:45hrs UK time) and then England at 18:45hrs (09:45hrs UK time). Alan and Greg play Guyana at 18:45hrs (09:45hrs UK time); before Lisa and Kevin continue the Mixed Doubles against India at 20:15hrs (11:15hrs UK time).
Table Tennis
On day one of the Men’s Singles competition Craig Howieson and Colin Dalgleish both faced two matches each in the group stage.
Craig started well with a 4-0 victory over Mauritius number one Rhikesh Taucoory, before taking on Mark Dowell of Barbados in the evening session with an identical scoreline to take him into the Round of 64 tomorrow.
Colin overcame a shaky start to defeat Devesh Hukmani of Belize 4-1; before facing a tough opponent in Malaysia’s Javen Choong. Despite taking the first game, Colin couldn’t keep the momentum going, eventually losing 4-1.
After his second match, Craig said: “Having not won a Singles match in the Team competition, I’m really glad to have put all of those matches behind me with some good performances today. I played a lot of balls and made those guys put a lot back on the table. My technique was there and I’m feeling under less pressure now, which is great. It’s a big day tomorrow – I could have two Singles matches and the first Doubles match pretty much back to back.”
Gavin Rumgay gets his Singles campaign underway tomorrow after teaming up with Howieson for the Men’s Doubles, which gets underway tomorrow with a match against Norther Ireland at 12:25hrs (03:25hrs UK time).
Para-Powerlifting
There was heartbreak for Micky Yule as for the second Games in a row he finished just outside the medals at fourth place in the Men’s Heavyweight Final. Having battled back from a double leg break over the last 12 months, it was a miracle that he could even compete, let alone get so close to a medal.
After failing his opening lift, Yule was successful at 172kg and 174kg to put himself in bronze medal position, knowing that Indian Sachin Chaudhary was the only man who could deny him a medal. Unfortunately for the war veteran, he did.
Afterwards Yule commented: “That number four is cursing me at the moment. I’m getting closer and closer but just not nailing it down. I’m gutted but I’ll go again for Birmingham, which will be like a home Games for me as I’ll bring the whole of clan Yule down from Scotland!”