Mixed results for basketball men, women
Kelowna’s Shephard on men’s team that dropped opener to host Australia
TOWNSVILLE, Australia — Daneesha Provo of the University of Utah and Michigan State’s Shay Colley each scored 14 points as Canada defeated England 80-54 on Friday for its first basketball win at the Commonwealth Games.
Canada did not enter a men’s or women’s team in 2006, the only time basketball has figured on the Games schedule.
The Canadian men — featuring Kelowna’s Grant Shephard — did not fare so well Friday, thumped 95-55 by a more experienced Australian side.
Canada is fielding a young men’s team comprised entirely of U Sports athletes. The Australians are missing their NBA talent and many European players, but do have domestic pros.
The Canadian women include university and overseas talent, as well as two high schoolers.
“This is our first game together, so we started slow, but toward the end we played well,” Colley said.
On the men’s side, University of Calgary guard Mambi Diawara, with 10 points, was the only Canadian to reach double figures against Australia.
Daniel Kickert, a guard who has played professionally in Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland and Ukraine, led Australia with 14 points. Four others scored in double figures with Brad Newley, a former Houston Rockets draft pick who plays in Spain, adding 12 points.
The Canadians were 5-of-24 from three-point range and went to the free throw line just four times.
“It was our first time playing together as a group,” said Ryerson guard Ammanuel Diressa. “Some of us have played internationally, but not all of us and not at this level.”
The Canadian men play Nigeria today, while the women face Australia.
Liz Cambage of the WNBA’s Dallas Wings scored 24 points to lead Australia to a 113-53 victory over Mozambique in the Opal’s opening basketball game. The 6-foot-8 centre is a two-time Olympian but is playing the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
HOST AUSTRALIA HAS GOLDEN DAY
GOLD COAST, Australia — Australia won nine gold medals Friday for its best daily total since 2010 to take a commanding lead in the medal count at the Commonwealth Games after two days of competition.
The host country won six swimming golds at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, added two at the velodrome in Brisbane and got a surprising one from Tia-Clair Toomey, who took gold in the women’s 58-kilogram weightlifting — Australia’s first gold in that sport at the Commonwealth Games in 12 years.
Australia had 14 gold medals after Friday’s events, and England next-best with nine.
Australia has 36 medals overall, double that of second-place England.
AT THE POOL: Olympic 100-metre champion Kyle Chalmers collected two gold medals, winning the 200metre freestyle and as a member of the victorious 4x100 freestyle relay. Emma McKeon led Australia to a sweep of the podium in the 100 butterfly and Mitch Larkin won the 100 backstroke. Australia also earned four silver and four bronze medals in the pool.
AT THE VELODROME: Australian Stephanie Morton won her second gold medal in two days, breezing past New Zealand’s Natasha Hansen to defend her sprint title a day after a win in the team sprint. Matthew Glaetzer then won the keirin. Katie Archibald of Scotland won the women’s 3,000-metre individual pursuit and Charlie Tanfield took the men’s 4,000metre individual pursuit for England.
FIT TOOMEY: Dubbed the fittest woman in the world after winning the 2017 CrossFit Games, the Australian successfully switched sport. Sitting in second spot behind Canadian Tali Darsigny after the snatch, the 24-year-old Queenslander lifted 114 kilograms with the final attempt in the clean and jerk for a winning total of 201.
“Winning the CrossFit Games was unbelievable,” Toomey said, “but winning it here in front of my home crowd on the platform was just spectacular.”
INDIAN GOLD: Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham won India’s second gold medal with victory in the women’s 53-kilogram weightlifting final. Khumukcham, who won gold in the 48-kilogram class at Glasgow in 2014, had a total of 192 kilograms.
The silver went to Loa Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea (182) and Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet of Canada took the bronze (181).
ON THE BEACH: Competition in beach volleyball, making its debut at the Commonwealth Games, began with New Zealand brothers Ben and Sam O’Dea beating Dimitris Apostolou and Georgios Chrysostomou of Cyprus. The Australian women’s team, gold-medal favourites Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, beat Mariota Angelopoulou and Manolina Konstantinou of Cyprus 21-14, 21-9.
Beach volleyball was one of the most popular sports at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and that enthusiasm has continued at the Commonwealth Games 18 years later, with the stadium sold out for all its games through to the finals on April 12.