Rowsell in pursuit of gold, David cruises
Glasgow, July 25: England’s Joanna Rowsell is on track to add Commonwealth Gold to her world title on Friday after she cruised into the final of the women’s 3000m individual pursuit on the second day of track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
Rowsell, who was crowned world champion in Colombia earlier this year, set a new Commonwealth record in qualifying as she took more than a second off the previous record, set by Katie Mactier at the 2006 Melbourne Games, crossing the line in three minutes 29.038 seconds.
The 25- year- old will battle it out with Annette Edmondson, whose brother Alex was part of the Australian quartet who claimed gold in the men’s team pursuit, for the gold medal after the Australian came close to breaking the Commonwealth record herself.
The host nation Scotland will be cheering on Katie Archibald as she takes on Australia’s Amy Cure for the bronze medal after setting a Scottish record in qualifying.
England’s Laura Trott, who won gold as part of Team GB in the team pursuit in London 2012 and at this year’s world championships along with Rowsell, was edged out into sixth place.
Trott will get a further chance to try and claim her first ever Commonwealth Games medal when she competes in the women’s 10km Scratch Race on Saturday. Malaysia’s world number one Nicol David cruised into the quarter- finals of the women’s squash, with a three- game victory over New Zealand’s Megan Craig.
David, the world’s top player since 2006, made it through to the last eight with an 11- 7, 11- 6, 11- 5 win.
“It was good to be out there playing better squash. Megan has been playing well and it was my first time playing her so it’s good to just get a feel of how she plays in the first game and then I got my bearings on the court, just feeling the court better as the match went on so I was really pleased with that,” David said.
New Zealander Joelle King secured her place in the quarter- finals with a four- game win over Joshana Chinappa.
King won gold in the women’s doubles and silver in the mixed doubles in Delhi four years ago and the third seed felt the match was a good test of her game and mental strength.