Day three saw Team Scotland continue their outstanding start to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games as five more medals were won in the pool and velodrome, putting the nation sixth on the medal table with 15 medals.
There was a second gold for Neil Fachie and his pilot Matt Rotherham, the World Champions winning the Men’s Para-Sport B&VI Sprint with another sterling ride. Later in the evening Katie Archibald and Neah Evans also stepped onto the rostrum to collect silver and bronze medals respectively, after great rides in the Women’s Points Race, only beaten by World Champion, Elinor Barker.
After coming from behind to book his place in the Men’s Sprint final, Jack Carlin went head to head with New Zealand’s Sam Webster in the gold medal race. Like in his semi-final Carlin lost the first sprint but left it just too late in the second race, losing out by the width of a rim, meaning he had to settle for silver.
In the pool Duncan Scott picked up where he left off last night, winning a third bronze medal, this time in the 200m Butterfly where Chad Le Clos set a Games record for gold.
For full details see the individual feature pieces about Cycling and Swimming.
Badminton
The squad were back in action for the third day in succession in the Mixed Team Event, but faced a tough quarter-final tie against second seeds Malaysia. First up were Julie MacPherson and Adam Hall in the Mixed Doubles, the pairing playing some of the best Badminton of their lives, to narrowly lose out to Olympic silver medallists Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh in three games.
Kieran Merrilees was up next in the Men’s Singles against another Olympic silver medallist in Lee Chong Wei, pushing him hard in the first game but eventually falling 2-0 to the Malaysian’s class. Hall was back on court alongside Alex Dunn in the Men’s Doubles knowing a win was needed to keep the tie alive, which proved a step too far, despite some excellent badminton especially in the second game.
“It was good experience,” said Hall. “We don’t get to play a lot of Mixed Team Events as Scotland or at all really, it’s probably once every two years if we’re lucky. It’s always special to play as part of a team and especially for Scotland at an event like this. Us younger ones will definitely take some experience from this into future team events, where we’ll hopefully go further in the tournament.”
After a couple of days of rest Team Scotland will be back in action in the individual competition commencing on Tuesday 10 April.
Basketball
After a special victory over England in their first Commonwealth Games match for 12 years, Team Scotland’s basketball players carried plenty of momentum into their second of three group games against Cameroon. Racing into a 15-4 lead at the end of the first quarter the team in blue never looked back, running out 63-52 winners to secure their place in the next round with a game to spare. Gareth Murray top scored with 25 points but once again it was a great team effort.
Team Scotland take on India tomorrow at 21:00hrs (14:00hrs UK time) up in Townsville
Beach Volleyball
Team Scotland’s Beach Volleyball Pair, Robin Miedzybrodzki and Seain Cook, booked their place in the quarter-finals tonight with a hard fought 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-13) win over Sierra Leone. Of the result Miedzybrodski said: “We fought and fought and fought. I’m really proud of that victory. Those are the ones that count.”
Meanwhile, Team Scotland’s Women’s Pair Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts suffered a tough 2-0 (8-21, 16-21) defeat at the hands of Cyprus, Beattie commenting: “We made far too many errors. We made it really easy for them, so we’re really disappointed.”
Coutts and Beattie are back in action tomorrow, taking on hosts Australia at 21:30hrs (12:30hrs UK time), while the men play on Monday against Canada at 12:30 (03:30 UK time).
Boxing
Vicky Glover became the first female boxer to represent Scotland at a Commonwealth Games when she faced Valerian Spicer in the Women’s Featherweight competition. Putting in a mature, professional performance she out-boxed the experienced Dominican fighter to take the win on a split-points decision.
After the fight Glover said: “I’m so happy to get the first fight out of the way. It was a wee bit edgy in there to start with, and I switched off a little in the second, but I won and it was a good warm-up. It’s a privilege to be here as the first Scottish girl at a Commonwealth Games.”
After overcoming a Tongan fighter in the opening contest, Welterweight Stephen Newns returned to the ring against Curlun Richardson of Anguilla. It was a physical contest, but Newns boxed far better than his opponent to take the bout in a unanimous decision. He commented: “It’s one fight at a time; I just need to give it my all in my next fight and keep going from there.”
Tomorrow (8 April) at the Oxenford Studios, Megan Gordon will follow in Glover’s footsteps in the Women’s Light Flyweight at 12:17hrs (03:17hrs UK time); Robbie McKechnie gets his Games underway against Canada at 13:17hrs (04:17hrs) in the Light Welterweight division before Middleweight, John Docherty returns to the ring at 21:17hrs (12:17hrs UK time) against Cyprus.
Gymnastics
It was a busy day for Team Scotland as both the men and women had maximum representation in the Individual All-Around Finals.
Frank Baines and Hamish Carter competed in the morning session, Frank finishing an impressive fourth place with 82.55 points, Hamish sixth with 81.05 points. Shannon Archer and Cara Kennedy represented Team Scotland in the women’s equivalent, with Kennedy in ninth place with 49.15 points, and Archer in tenth with 48.85 points. It is the first time that Scotland has ever placed two gymnasts in the top 10 in the All-Around and ninth for Kennedy equaled Scotland’s best ever finish in this event.
Carter, Archer and Kennedy will be back in action tomorrow along with Dan Purvis in the Men’s and Women’s Apparatus Finals. At 14:30hrs (05:30hrs UK time), Purvis and Carter compete in the Men’s Floor Exercise final, followed by Archer and Kennedy on the Vault at 15:20hrs (06:20hrs UK time). The day will round off with Purvis on the Rings at 16:30hrs (07:30hrs UK time).
Hockey: Team Scotland’s men were back in action, facing Canada in their second match of the Games and looking to build on a 4-2 win over South Africa. The team fought hard to rally after going behind in the first quarter, however the Canadians held strong to see out a 1-0 win.
The men will be back in action tomorrow night at 21:30hrs (12:30hrs UK time) against Australia who have dominated the sport – winning gold at every Games to date.
Lawn Bowls: Today at Broadbeach Bowling Club, Team Scotland’s lawn bowlers guaranteed semi-final spots in two events; the Men’s Triples and the Men’s Pairs.
After finishing second in their group, Ronnie Duncan, Derek Oliver and Darren Burnett faced Wales in a thrilling match where they were forced to rally from 11-2 down. They claimed a 15-13 win to guarantee a spot in tomorrow’s semi-final against Norfolk Island. That match, which will take place at 09:00hrs (00:00hrs UK time), will be followed by either the final or bronze medal match at 12:30hrs (03:30hrs UK time).
Defending Pairs champions Alex Marshall and Paul Foster played Malaysia in their final group game, breezing to a 27-9 win, to top their group. In a twist of fate, they were then drawn against the same Malaysian side for the quarter-final and once again got the better of their Asian rivals to advance. Tomorrow’s semi-final against Malta takes place at 12:30hrs (03:30hrs UK time), with the final and bronze medal matches to be played on Monday.
There was disappointment in the Women’s Singles for Caroline Brown as, after topping her group, she lost out to Canada’s Kelly McKerihen in the quarter-final. The Women’s Fours team suffered a similar fate, also to Canadian opposition.
Both Para-Bowls teams were in action this evening, continuing their preliminary games. The B2/B3 Mixed Pairs met South Africa to whom they suffered an 18-3 loss, but are back in action at 09:00hrs (00:00hrs UK time) tomorrow against New Zealand.
The B6/B7/B8 Open Triples Para-Bowlers played New Zealand, losing 17-9. They return to the greens tomorrow and will face England at 17:30hrs (08:30hrs UK time).
Netball
In their second home nations clash, Team Scotland’s netball players hoped to build on some good passages of play against England two days prior, and they did just that, getting the better of Wales. After a cagey opening half Scotland were trailing 23-24, but some sharp shooting from 18 year old Beth Goodwin helped drive the team on, eventually prevailing 51-47.
Proud of the team’s performance, Nicola McCleery commented: “We knew we could do it and we knew that if we just stuck to our process we could get the win and I think we showed that tonight. We fought for 60 minutes and it was a really well contested match. Wales played some great stuff but we kept our composure and our shooters were phenomenal tonight.”
The team will now look to take that momentum into their next Pool B game against New Zealand on 9 April.
Squash
Alan Clyne faced off against Joel Makin of Wales in the Men’s Singles quarter-finals in a gruelling 99-minute match on the show court at Oxenford Studios. The two hugely physical players pushed each other all the way, with Makin eventually coming out on top winning the final game 12-10 to take the match.
In the men’s Singles Classic Plate semi-final, Kevin Moran continued his strong form against Othniel Bailey of St Vincent and the Grenadines with a comfortable 3-0 victory. He’ll now contest the Plate Final against Micah Franklin of Bermuda tomorrow at 18:00hrs (09:00hrs UK time).
Triathlon
Para-Triathlon made its debut at the Commonwealth Games on a glorious morning on the Gold Coast, with Karen Darke in action for Team Scotland. After a solid swim in very choppy water, her weakest element of the swim-hand cycling-wheelchair combination, Darke was fifth, but producing the second fastest bike split she moved up to fourth. Despite pushing hard all the way, her rivals had just too much on the day and the Inverness athlete was unable to haul herself into the medal positions, having to settle for fourth in 1.16.37.
“That was tough,” she said. “The swim really got me – I’ve never swum in a sea with waves and a current like that before and I really suffered. I really wanted to pull off a medal for Scotland, but hey, I tried my best.”
In the Mixed Team Relay, Beth Potter, Mark Austin, Erin Wallace and Grant Sheldon put up a great fight against some quality opposition, eventually finishing in seventh place, equalling their performance in Glasgow four years ago.
Tomorrow
Athletics gets underway at the Carrara Stadium on Sunday, with Chris Bennett and Mark Dry contesting the Men’s Hammer final at 14:00hrs (05:00hrs UK time), both men with their sights set on competing for medals.