The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Sensational day for Team Scotland
Gold medal performances in swimming pool, cycling track and bowling green as Courier Country athletes lead the way
It was a sensational Sunday for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games yesterday, with Courier Country athletes leading the way.
Stunning gold medal performances came one after the other.
Dundee’s Mark Stewart produced the cycling highlight of the Games in the Gold Coast velodrome according to legend of the sport, Sir Chris Hoy, with his men’s points race triumph to get the better of local hero and five-time world champion Cameron Meyer.
Earlier in the swimming pool, former Strathallan pupil Duncan Scott became the first Scot to win five medals at a Commonwealth Games in any sport.
The last was a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay along with Perth’s Stephen Milne and Fife’s Mark Szaranek but the stand-out performance was his individual gold in the 100m freestyle to defeat world-class rivals South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers.
Arbroath bowler Darren Burnett has won another gold, skipping the men’s triples to victory, and still has the singles to come.
Scotland are fifth in the overall medal table with six golds, seven silver and 10 bronze medals so far.
Arbroath’s Darren Burnett held his nerve to steer Scotland to a 19-14 win over Australia in the men’s triples gold medal match at the Broadbeach Bowls Club.
Scotland were trailing when Burnett delivered two crucial drives in the 17th and penultimate end to secure a 16-14 lead.
Burnett, lead Ronald Duncan and second Derek Oliver claimed another three shots on the final end to clinch a 19-14 victory against the hosts.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. We beat the Aussies in their backyard,” he said.
It is the Angus police officer’s second Commonwealth gold, after his singles triumph in Glasgow four years ago.
And he will now hope to add another in the singles this time around.
Reigning champions Paul Foster and Alex Marshall will defend their crown in the bowls pairs against Marc Wyatt and Daniel Salmon of Wales in today’s final.
Montrose boxer John Docherty comfortably progressed to the middleweight quarter-finals with a second unanimous points win, this time against Cypriot Andreas Kokkinos.
Docherty’s next fight is against England’s Ben Whittaker on Wednesday.
Gymnast Daniel Purvis stepped onto
the podium for the second time at this year’s games when his performance on the men’s floor was good enough to claim bronze.
The Olympic bronze medallist, 27, scored 13.733 as he added to his bronze in Thursday’s team final.
He was unable to add another medal in the men’s rings final, having to settle for seventh place.
Team-mate Hamish Carter came fourth in the men’s floor final, following on from his sixth-place finish in the individual all-around.
Mark Dry landed Scotland’s first athletics medal of the Games when he took bronze in the men’s hammer behind England’s Nick Miller and Australia’s Matthew Denny, a repeat of his Glasgow 2014 success.
“I don’t know what just happened. I barely remember any of it. This journey has been unbelievable,” said Dry.
Scotland’s men suffered a 6-1 hockey defeat to Australia, the No 1 ranked team in the Games.
Following a gutsy performance which earned them a draw with Canada, Scotland’s women should be confident of claiming full points from today’s penultimate pool B contest against Ghana.
They currently sit in fourth place, but with Australia’s Hockeyroos still to be faced and other results conspiring against them, it may be too little too late for the Tartan Hearts to hit their target of a top six finish.
All eyes will be on the last game of the day as free-scoring New Zealand carry a single point advantage into the blockbuster showdown with the Hockeyroos.
England and India are locked together on the six-point mark in pool A with the former ahead on goal difference.
In basketball, Scotland beat India 96-81 to top their group while the women’s beach volleyball duo of Melissa Coutts and Lynne Beattie lost 2-0 to the hosts and now need results elsewhere to go their way to avoid elimination.