| Commonwealth Youth Games Daily Round Up
- Thursday 2 December
It was another fantastic day for the Scottish team at the Commonwealth
Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia, with 14 medals added to the medal table,
taking the grand total to 26. With one day of competition remaining, the
team are well on the way to beating last year’s medal total of 30.
Athletics
The first day of the athletics was a successful one for the Scottish
team who won five medals in total. Morag McLarty (Auchterarder) ran a
fantastic 1500m race to win gold for the team. Morag commented: "I
can’t believe it, it is really weird but so cool."
In the Women’s 400m, Gemma Nicol (Dunfermline) ran a strong race
and won silver.
There was also success for the team in the field events with James Campbell
(Cheltenham - Scottish father) winning gold in the Men’s Javelin
competition and achieving a personal best and a new Scottish record with
a throw of 67.21m.
Kim Skinner (Stenhousemuir) won silver in the Women’s Pole Vault
competition while Jude Beimers (Glenrothes) won bronze in the Men’s
Triple Jump event.
Scottish Team Manager Pat Rollo said "I am absolutely delighted.
Some of the medals were expected and some were a complete surprise. I
am obviously very pleased with James’ new record which was a 5m
personal best."
Badminton
After losing to Malaysia and Singapore in the first two rounds, the Scottish
team (Calum Menzies (Falkirk), Watson Briggs (Renfrew), Stuart Gilliland
(Glasgow), Julie Boyd (Fauldhouse), Imogen Bankier (Milngavie) and Emma
Mason (Edinburgh)) fought back to beat Australia 5-0 in round 3 and went
on to beat South Africa 5-0.
The team now moves on to face India in the semi finals.
Bowls
After a fantastic start to the competition, Michelle Cooper (Kilwinning)
continued her winning streak in the Girl’s Single Competition, beating
England 21-16 in the third round and Malaysia 21-19 in the fourth round.
Martyn Rice (Dumfries) followed her lead and beat Northern Ireland 21-18
in the third round and went on to beat Malaysia 21-11 in the fourth round
and on to victory in the fifth round, beating England, 21-17.
After drawing with Malaysia in the third round 16-16, the mixed pairs
team, Mandy O’Donnell (Edinburgh) and Marc McGraw (Hamilton) beat
the home nation, Australia 22-13 in the fourth round, only to narrowly
miss out in round five to New Zealand 17-16.
After the second day of competition Scotland are currently top of the
overall standings with 21 points.
Boxing
In the 54kg category, Jason Hastie (Edinburgh) beat Nigeria’s Carl
Frampton 24-19 and now moves on to the final where he will face England’s
Liam Walsh. David Appleby also moves on to the final of the 60kg category
after beating Australia’s Lenny Zappavigna 34-27 in the semi-finals.
He will face England’s Gary Barker in the final tomorrow.
In the 57kg category, Jo Kelson (Muirkirk) lost his semi-final match against
James McElvaney of England and will face Scott Gardner of New Zealand
to fight for the bronze medal tomorrow.
Gary McMillan (Edinburgh) won his first bout against Sandeep Singh of
India 30-18 but in a very close match, lost to Patrick Murphy of Northern
Ireland 19-18 in the semi-finals of the 63.5kg category. Gary now goes
on to fight Michael Hatwell of Australia for the bronze.
National Coach John McKay said: "The performance of Gary McMillan
was excellent as he was carrying an injured bicep and was essentially
boxing the last three rounds with one hand. He only lost to the boxer
from Ireland by one point. I am especially pleased that all the boys have
all won at least one bout. They are a close team and have been extremely
supportive of each other."
Gymnastics
Scotland’s gymnastic team added to the medal table with Adam Cox
(Livingston) winning gold in the Men’s Artistic All-Rounder and
the Men’s and Women’s Artistic Team winning a bronze a piece,
with Helen Galashan (Warrington - Scottish father) scoring 34.04
in the Beam final, a personal best by almost one point.
In the Men’s Individual Competition, Adam Cox qualified in all six
disciplines, Daniel Keatings qualified in the floor, pommel horse and
parallel bars, while Andrew Mackie qualified in the rings event.
National Coach Tan Jai En is "more than happy" with today’s
results. "Today’s competition was all about the team working
together to minimise faults and get scores. They did not have a good warm
up but pulled it back together again to give a solid performance. Tomorrow
is all about themselves and trying to win a medal in those disciplines."
Men’s Artistic Team - Adam Cox (Livingston), Andrew Mackie (Stirling),
Daniel Keatings (Corby - Scottish father).
Women’s Artistic Team - Helen Galashan (Warrington - Scottish father),Carol
Galashan, (Warrington - Scottish father) and Rosalie Hutton (Norfolk -
Scottish father).
In today’s Rhythmic gymnastic competition both Ayleen Forfar and
Magalie Mackay produced excellent performances to finish 15th and 16th.
Coach Sue Morgan was pleased with the results as they are competing out
of age as they are both still juniors competing as seniors. Magalie is
in fact the youngest member of the Scottish team having only turned 14
two weeks ago.
She said " I am pleased with the scores for both girls as they have
both been very consistent across all pieces and Ayleen has qualified for
the clubs final. Magalie is first for the rope."
Rugby 7’s
On the first day of competition for Scotland’s Rugby 7’s
team, the team lost 22-14 to Fiji and also failed to beat the strong South
African team, losing 43-7 in their second game. However Scotland pulled
back in the final game of the day to beat the Cooke Islands 15-10.
Swimming
Scotland’s swimmers had another day of medal winning performances,
adding seven more medals to the team’s total.
Rebecca Hillis (Neilston) won gold in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke
in a time of 34.45, while Kerry Buchan (Banchory) was unfortunately disqualified.
Jenni Kilgallon (Dundee) won silver in the Women’s 100m Freestyle,
in a time of 58.52.
Lorna Smith (Paisley) won silver in the Women’s 200m Backstroke
with a time of 2:18.56 closely followed by fellow team mate, Gemma Sutherland
(Aberdeen) who won bronze in a time of 2:19.45.
In the Men’s 200m Backstroke, Scott Houston (Dalry) won silver in
a time of 2:07.83 with fellow Scot, Lewis Smith (Edinburgh) coming in
seventh in a time of 2:12.35
The Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay team, Lorna Smith, Kerry Buchan,
Louise Pate (Edinburgh) won bronze in a time of 4:20.24, after a fast
last leg by Jenni Kilgallon.
The Men’s team, Scott Houston, Mark Branch (Irvine), Malcolm Kerr
(Edinburgh) and Andrew Hunter (Berkhamstead - Scottish father) followed
the women’s lead and came away with a bronze in the men’s
event, in a time of 3:55.07.
Team Manager/Coach, Eileen Adams said, "I am really pleased with
the performance of our young competitors, especially under the most unusual
conditions for swimmers. Swimming outdoors in the wind, rain and cold
and producing a tally of medals is testimony to their determination and
commitment to the sport. This is good practice for Melbourne 2006 where
hopefully we will see some these youngsters."
Weightlifting
There were more celebrations in the weightlifting camp as Peter Kirkbride
walked away with a gold medal in the Men’s 85kg class. He accomplished
four out of six lifts and achieved a new personal best in the snatch of
120kg, which is also a new Scottish record.
Team Manager Stuart Yule said "Peter was disappointed in his two
failures as he managed the first part of the clean and jerk with ease
but failed to control the weight over his head. Peter has natural ability
and has an excellent attitude which should ensure future progress and
success."
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