Administrative error sees athlete miss race

England’s chef de mission has been forced to apologise after an embarrassing administrative error saw one of the country’s athletes miss Tuesday’s time trial.

Melissa Lowther, 21, was hoping to reach the podium in the race against the clock. However, she was not allowed to start the event because her entry was not submitted correctly.

Despite making a last-ditch appeal to Commonwealth Games organisers, the request was denied.

Lowther, who was understandably devastated, said she ‘‘could not put into words how disappointed’’ she was, while England’s chef de mission Sarah Winckless apologised for the embarrassing oversight.

‘‘It’s more than embarrassing,’’ said Winckless. ‘‘It’s hugely disappointing and she has my sincere apologies.

‘‘We failed to tick a box a few days ago on an allocation to add to an event. We found that out at the technical meeting. The spreadsheet came back absolutely accurate from British Cycling and the admin happened in transferring that data into a different system.

Lowther revealed her devastation in an Instagram post. ‘‘I can’t put into words how disappointed I am. It was one of my targets this season to make selection for the time trial event and I was so proud that my hard work in training had paid off.

‘‘While Team England have apologised, I’m still gutted not to have the opportunity.’’

Despite missing the time trial, Lowther is set to compete in Saturday’s road race.