The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Gymnast Frank Baines secured Team Scotland’s 25th medal of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia when he produced a stunning performance to claim bronze on the parallel bars.
Joy for gymnast but disappointment for Marshall and Foster
Frank Baines brought Team Scotland’s Gymnastics medal tally to three when he put in a stunning performance to bag bronze on the parallel bars.
Coming in close behind Cypriot Marios Georgiou on 14.533 and England’s Nile Wilson, also on 14.533, his score of 14.400 guaranteed his spot on the podium, and Scotland’s 25th medal of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Part of a historic first team event medal for Scotland at Glasgow 2014, Baines had already collected his first medal of Gold Coast 2018 with bronze in the men’s team event on Thursday.
Yesterday’s bronze brings the gymnastics tally to three following bronze in the floor final for Daniel Purvis.
Baines said: “I knew that I had a chance at a medal if I came out here and performed consistently.
“I’m really happy with what I did out there today, and it’s always incredible to win a medal – that shows my hard work has paid off,” he said.
“Contributing to what looks like it’s going to be Team Scotland’s most successful overseas games is also pretty special.
“It’ll be nice to relax with the coaches, team-mates and family over the next couple of days now that the hard work has been done.”
Baines also competed on the horizontal bar, and was joined by team-mate Hamish Carter.
Baines placed fourth on 13.333 points, and Carter in eighth with a score of 11.033.
Meanwhile, Alex Marshall and Paul Foster narrowly missed out on a hattrick of Commonwealth Games bowling golds.
The experienced duo lost the final in the last end to the Welsh men’s pair and had to settle for silver this time.
The two-time winners cruised through to the last two undefeated in the preliminary, quarter-final, and semifinal stages. But a third gold wasn’t to be, as they played a tense final against Daniel Salmon and Marc Wyatt.
With the two teams neck-and-neck for the entire game, Marshall’s last bowl was unsuccessful in moving Wales from their winning position which saw the Scots go down 10-12.
Marshall said: “It was a great final – but we’re obviously a bit disappointed.
“We dominated the first 10 or 11 ends. Paul played some great bowls and I made a few good conversions.
“Wales came out really strong in the second half and it was the last few bowls which won the game.
“We came here to defend our title and while walking away with a silver medal isn’t the result we wanted, it’s still a brilliant result for Scotland.”
Foster added: “Wales were confident throughout and both teams really stuck in there right up until the last bowl was played.
“Naturally we are a little disappointed but we put up a great defence of our title and I’m glad we got to the final.
“We’re not going to be despondent about this – we’re going to bounce back and are looking forward to delivering in the men’s fours.”
In para-bowls, the B2/B3 mixed pairs beat the host nation 15-11, meaning they qualify for the semi-final.
Darren Burnett has begun his singles campaign and made short work of Edward Bell, his Samoan opponent, winning 21-2 in just 12 ends.
Perth swimmer Camilla Hattersley was fifth in the women’s 800m freestyle, while Craig McNally and Euan Inglis finished seventh in the men’s 200m backstroke and men’s 50m breaststroke, respectively.
Toni Shaw finished seventh in the SB9 100m breaststroke final, the 14-year-old managing a personal best of 1:27:99, while Sean Campsie was eighth in the men’s 100m butterfly final.
In shooting, Seonaid McIntosh, who sat in third for the first three rounds, finished fifth in the women’s 10m air rifle final.
Older sister Jen, Team Scotland’s most decorated female athlete, missed out on a place in the final, coming ninth with only the top eight going through.
Carnoustie’s Eilish McColgan qualified for the final of the women’s 1,500m at the Carrara Stadium, along with veteran Stephanie Twell.
McColgan was fifth in her heat, making it through as a fastest loser.
Beth Potter created history as she became the first Scottish athlete to compete in two sports at the games, finishing 18th in the 10,000m after competing in the triathlon and team triathlon events.
She said: “I knew it would be hard after the triathlon, but I have never ducked out of anything in my life and I don’t want to start now.
“If the pace had been a little bit slower I think I could have stayed with the pack that bit longer and that would have helped me a lot.
“I enjoyed the experience, though, and the crowd were great. I heard a lot of support for me out there, which was nice.”
Zoey Clark is safely through to the semi-finals of the women’s 400m, finishing second in her heat.
Scotland’s two high jump competitors both came safely through qualifying, with David Smith and Allan Smith reaching the final.
In netball Scotland lost heavily to New Zealand 60-29.
Both Reece McFadden, 52kg, and Nathaniel Collins, 60kg, progressed to the quarter-finals in their respective boxing classes.
But Sean Lazzeri lost out by the thinnest of margins to Australia’s Clay Waterman on a split decision.
Scotland’s men’s beach volleyball pair, Perth’s Seain Cook and Robin Miedzybrodzki, faced Canada in the final pool game at Coolingata Beach.
The match ended 2-0 to the Canadians, but the Scots had already done enough to qualify for the quarterfinals.