Scotland’s Para-Sport competitors put Lawn Bowls on the medal rostrum for the first time in the Glasgow Games and took the team halfway to its Bowls target of two medals.
At Kelvingrove, Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 competitors Robert Conway and Irene Edgar, together with their directors Ron McArthur and David Thomas, won the Silver medal after losing 14-10 to South Africa.
The Scots had played the same South African line up twice in recent years with the tally equal at a win each. Today Scotland made two good comebacks, from 5-2 down and again trailing 10-6, on both occasions levelling the score.
But at 10-10 on the penultimate, fourteenth end South Africa scored a three from which the Scots did not recover.
“Coming back from 10-6 down I thought maybe we could put a wee bit of pressure on them at that point,” said Robert Conway.
“And at 10-10 I thought we had a good chance. But then the next end we lost a three and it was a silly three to lose.”
Having gone into today’s match knowing they were capable of beating the South Africans, the Scots admitted to being disappointed at missing Gold in front of the home crowd.
“I’m very thrilled with silver but a little bit disappointed in the way we played,” admitted Conway.
“Not taking anything away from South Africa who played well and deserved to win, but we didn’t really give South Africa a game and I think we could have played a lot better.
“I said at the first media conference in April that we would be delighted with any podium finish. As the time grew and as the preparation went on we got stronger and I then thought it’s going to be the top one, but I’m still delighted with second.”
The pair were thrilled both to be a part of Team and saw today’s game as a great opportunity to promote Bowls for the visually impaired.
“There are a lot of people who have never heard of visually impaired Bowls until this competition,” said Conway. “But hopefully after this week a lot more people will know about it.
“It’s great to be a part of the whole Team Scotland and it’s brilliant to have won so many medals, and it’s only day three.”
The opportunity to add more Bowls medals to the growing list of Team Scotland silver-ware continues at Kelvingrove tomorrow.
In the Men’s Pairs Paul Foster and Alex Marshall meet England in the semi-finals, after beating New Zealand 25-9 this afternoon.
The Women’s Fours; Claire Johnston, Lorraine Malloy, Lauren Bailey and Margaret Letham beat Jersey 16-14 in the quarter-finals to set up their semi-final meeting with South Africa.
Scotland’s Caroline Brown is out of the women’s Singles. She lost her quarter-final at the hands of Natalie Melmore, the Commonwealth Games champion from England, 21-20 in a match which could easily have gone either way.
“I’m delighted with my performance and I thought it was an excellent game,” said Brown, who is now looking forward to starting the Women’s Pairs event.
“It was nip and tuck most of the second half of the match and it went right to the wire. I’m gutted to lose out on a shot but it was a great game.”
The other Scottish loss of the afternoon was Scotland’s men’s Triples; David Peacock, Neil Speirs and Darren Burnett, who lost 19-12 in the quarter finals to Northern Ireland.

Photo Credit: Getty Images