Glasgow 2014: DAY 9: Gymnast Claudia Fragapane wins fourth gold, bowls success for Scotland, Sally Pearson wins hurdles gold for Australia

Claudia Fragapane wins her fourth gold of Glasgow 2014 (BBC Sport)

By Steven Oldham MISS DAY 8 HIGHLIGHTS? CLICK HERE
 
Teenage gymnast Claudia Fragapane won her fourth gold medal of Glasgow 2014 today, by taking victory on the floor, and in doing so became the first woman in 84 years to win as many golds for England.
 
She had previously won the vault, all around and team all around gold earlier in the week and the 16-year-old contributed to a highly successful gymnastics programme for the Home Nations, with England, Scotland and Wales all picking up medals.
 

Fragapane's gold medals are proving crucial to her country as England continue to lead the medals table from Australia and Canada.
 
Fellow gymnast Nile Wilson opened his invidiual gold account by beating team-mate Kristian Thomas to the horizontal bar competition.
 
Divers Jack Laugher and Chris Mears added another top medal in the 3m synchro event, with team-mates Nick Robinson-Baker and Freddie Woodward picking up bronze in the same event.
 
Steve Lewis added gold in the pole vault, with Tiffany Porter claiming silver in the 100m hurdles.
 

Darren Burnett is the men's singles winner (Jeff Holmes)

 

Host nation Scotland enjoyed another successful day on the bowling green, picking up two more gold medals.
 
Darren Burnett won the men's singles competition by easily beating Canada's Ryan Bester 21-9, while the mens' fours beat England 16-8 to secure their title.
 
Gymnast Daniel Purvis took his first Commonwealth title by winning the parallel bars from English pair Nile Wilson and Max Whitlock.
 
Runner Lynsey Sharp also put in a stunning performance to break up the African monopoly in the 800m, taking silver behind Kenya's Eunice Sum.

Reigning champion Moses Kipsiro took a grandstand finish in the 10,000m
(Uganda Records)

 
 Uganda won their first gold medal of the 2014 Games as Moses Kipsoro retained his 10,000m title in an incredibly close race.

Kipsiro had trailed Canada's Cameron Levins into the final straight but both he and Kenya's Josphat Bett managed to beat the man from North America across the line.

Kipsiro won the race by just 0.03 seconds, the closest margin at this Games, closer than Kemar Bailey Cole's 0.10 gap to Adam Gemili in the 100m.

Double Commonwealth champion Sally Pearson celebrates
(Fox Sports News)

Olympic champion Sally Pearson was Australia's star performer on day nine, taking the 100m hurdles final ahead of England's Tiffany Porter and Angela Whyte of Canada.

In doing so she retained the title she won four years ago in Delhi, India.

There was also gold for Eleanor Patterson in the high jump, and divers Matthew Mitcham and Dominic Beddggod took the 10m synchro title.

Olympic champion Mitcham now finally has a gold Commonwealth to add to his collection, having won four silver medals in the last Games four years ago.

Tianwei Feng win's womens singles gold (BBC Sport)

Singapore continue to do well in table tennis, winning both the women's singles and men's doubles events today.

Indeed, their women locked out the podium, with Delhi champion Tianwei Feng retaining her title by beating Mengyu Yu 4-1 in the final. Ye Lin took bronze ahead of Australian Jian Fang Lay.

Gao Ning and Li Hu are the new men's doubles champions after they beat Indian pair Sharath Achanta and Amalraj Arputharaj 3-1.

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DAY 9 DIGEST IN 60 SECONDS...

• Kenya's impressive form in the distance running events continues. They locked out the podium in the men's 3000m steeplechase with Jonathan Ndiku taking gold.
• There was a first medal for St Lucia today. Levern Spencer took bronze in the high jump - matching her achievement from Delhi, where she was again her country's only medallist
• Usain Bolt helped Jamaica through to the final of the men's 4x100m relay
• South Africa added another gold medal; Tracy-Lee Botha and Colleen Piketh won the women's pairs.
• Jennifer Abel was another athlete to retain a title won in India four years ago - she picked up gold for Canada in the 1m springboard diving event.

Glasgow 2014: DAY 5: Scotland guarantee best ever Games with bowls success, Jamaica take athletics gold, Malaysia enjoy best day

Scotland's history makers Alex Marshall and Paul Foster (@_dpaj)

MISSED DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS? CLICK HERE

By Steven Oldham 

It was only a matter of time before Scotland beat their eleven gold medals from Melbourne 2006 given their successful start to Glasgow 2014, and, with six days left, they achieved this today with victory in bowls as Alex Marshall and Paul Foster won the men's pairs.

The pair romped to an easy 20-3 victory over Malaysia and in doing so secured their place in Scottish folklore as the athletes who confirmed a historic best for the country.

Libby Clegg's victory in the T12 100m in para-sport athletics was another milestone matched, as Scotland now have 33 medals from this Games - matching their best ever total haul from a single Commonwealths.

Nicol David playing England's Laura Massaro (@starsport_my)

Malaysia enjoyed their best day of Glasgow 2014 so far, picking up gold in both squash and badminton.

World number one Nicol David beat English challenger Laura Massaro to take the women's squash event while they again outperformed the English in the mixed team badminton event, meaning both David and the badminton team retain the titles they won in Delhi four years ago.

Kemar Bailey Cole wins the 100m ahead of Adam Gemili (@sportsnet)

Jamiacan gold medals are like buses; you wait ages for one then two turn up at once.

Predictably, both came in athletics - Kemar Bailey-Cole won the 100m, and O'Dayne Richards took the shot put.

Veronica Campbell-Brown had to settle for silver in the 100m sprint, with team-mate Kerron Stewart third. Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare won the race.

Welsh swimmer Jazz Carlin (Getty Images)



Swimmer Jazz Carlin became the first women in 40 years to win a Commonwealth event for Wales as she took the 800m freestyle.

She took her first Games title ahead of New Zealand's Lauren Boyle and Brittany Maclean and now has Commonwealth gold, silver and bronze.

This was Wales' third gold this Games  in three different sports - swimming, judo and rhythmic gymnastics.

English discus thrower Dan Greaves (@spogo)

England had another successful day with titles in the pool, squash and athletics.

Swimmer Ollie Hynd completed the grand slam and added Commonwealth gold to his collection, which already includes Paralympic, European and world titles, by winning the SM8 200m medley. 18-year-old Sophie Taylor took the 100m breaststroke final, having won her semi final and been the fastest in the heats. 

Discus thrower Dan Greaves secured his country's first gold medal in athletics by winning the F42/44 final ahead of Wales' Aled Davies and Nigeria's Richard Okigbazi.

Nick Matthew retained his Delhi 2010 title by winning an all-English final in the men's squash against team-mate James Willstrop. Peter Barker's bronze meant the English completed a clean sweep of the podium, with Laura Massaro also winning silver.

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DAY 5 DIGEST IN 60 SECONDS...

• Northern Ireland edged closer to the top prize by picking up silver in the men's triples bowls competition
• Cameroon won their first gold medal of the Games, and first since the 2002 Games, as weightlifter Marie Fegue takes victory in the 69kg weight class.
• Singapore continued their dominance in table tennis, adding the men's team event to the women's title they took on day 4
• Medal table leaders Australia continue to add to their medal tally, winning gold in shooting and swimming
• Canada's Sultana Frizzell retained her hammer title from Delhi 2010 and beat her own Games record in the process

Glasgow 2014: DAY 4: South Africa shock New Zealand in rugby sevens, Australia break record in pool, Laura Trott seals gold in the velodrome

South Africa's history-making rugby sevens team (@Glasgow2014)

By Steven Oldham  MISS DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS? CLICK HERE

Something unheard of today in the rugby sevens tournament, as the reigning and four-time Commonwealth champions New Zealand were beaten by South Africa in the final.

The All Blacks had never lost a match in any Commonwealth tournament since the sport debuted in 1998 and were seen as huge favourites to retain their title.

South Africa beat the Kiwis 17-12 in the final at Ibrox to secure a historic win and a glimmer of hope to the rest of the world that New Zealand are not a shoe-in to win the first Olympic title in sevens when it debuts at the Rio 2016 Games. The Springboks had twice previously won bronze but proved to be the better team today.

They also won gold in lawn bowls, as their women's fours team beat Malaysia in the final.



James Magnussen on his way to gold (BBC Sport)

Medal table leaders Australia had another day to remember in the pool, with the highlight coming in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay where they set a new world record and finished ahead of the second place team, Scotland.

James Magnussen (100m freestyle), Belinda Hocking (200m backstroke), and Ben Treffers (50m backstroke) also claimed individual gold on yet another day of success for the team from Down Under.

In the first day of athletics, Michael Shelley took the men's marathon.

England's Commonwealth champion cyclist Laura Trott (Getty Images)

England also had a good day in the pool with both Fran Halsall and Siobhan O'Connor picking up gold.

Halsall picked up the 50m butterfly title to add to her freestyle medal over the same distance. O'Connor finally won gold in the 200m medley ahead of Australia's Alicia Coutts, who was the most decorated athlete in any sport at the last Games in Delhi. O'Connor had previously won two silver medals in Glasgow.

In the final day of track cycling, Laura Trott added a Commonwealth title in the points race to her two Olympic titles from London 2012. The 22-year-old led a Home Nations podium, with Welsh rider Elinor Barker second and Scotland's Katie Archibald took bronze.

Steve Scott and Charlotte Kerwood also secured a successful day at the Barry Budden Shooting Range with both taking gold medals in the double trap.

Singapore's women won the team event in table tennis (@tdysports)

Singapore convincingly won the women's' team table tennis tournament, beating Malaysia 3-0 in the final.

They beat India and Canada en-route to the final and are a team who regularly do well in table tennis - at the last Games in Delhi, six of their eleven gold medals came in this sport.

The team also have a chance to win a medal in badminton tomorrow as they play India in the bronze medal match of the mixed team event after losing to Malaysia earlier today.

Kenya's marathon winner Caleb Ndiku (@eaofficialpage)



Kenya had a strong first day in the athletics, picking up gold in both the women's marathon and men's 5000m.

Flomena Daniel won the women's marathon ahead of compatriot Caroline Kilel, and Caleb Ndiku took the 5000m title, again leading a Kenyan 1-2 from Isiah kiplangat Koech.

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DAY 4 DIGEST IN 60 SECONDS...

• India and Nigeria shared the spoils in weightlifting today, both picking up one gold and one silver each
• Malaysia's world number one Nicol David made the final of the squash tournament where she will face Laura Massaro of England
• The Bahamas won their first medal - in the pool, with Adrianna Vanderpool Wallace winning silver behind Fran Halsall in the 50m butterfly.
• Malta are still without a medal, but they came close in shooting, with Nathan Xuereb losing out by just two points in his bronze medal match in the men's double trap.  

Glasgow 2014 - Commonwealth Games Sports Guide: Lawn Bowls

By Steven Oldham

Click HERE for Commonwealth Games homepage

One thing that sets the Commonwealth Games apart from the Olympics is the sports contested at the events.

Lawn bowls, squash and netball are not on the Olympic  programme, yet are all part of the core programme for the Commonwealths.

Bowls has been on every Commonwealth schedule bar 1966, but swiftly returned in 1970. This year sees the introduction of para-sport bowls introduced alongside the regular game.

WHEN?

Bowls runs throughout the majority of the Games with action on every day from July 24 to August 1. Para-sport mixed pairs will be the first gold medal decided on July 26. 

WHERE?

All bowls competitions will take place at the Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre, just under two miles away from Glasgow city centre. The facility has been upgraded for the games and has additional seating across five reconstructed bowling greens.

WHO?

Last time out in Delhi, South Africa topped the medals table with three golds, in the men's pairs and triples, and also a triples gold for the ladies. England and Wales also won gold medals.

Nearly half of the competing nations will enter at least one team in to the bowls competitions, and the host nation boast current men's singles world title holder Darren Burnett amongst their squad.

Commonwealth nations are traditionally the strongest in bowls, so the quality is there this summer for a global audience to see world-class action on the bowling green. England, Scotland, Wales, Australia and New Zealand will be the countries to watch.

LET ME SOUND LIKE I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT...

• The aim of the game is to get your bowls nearer to a small white ball - the 'jack' - than your opponents.
• Points are awarded after all bowls have been taken, with points scored for every bowl closer to the jack than your opponents.
• In singles, the first to 21 points or 'shots' wins. In the team disciplines, it's decided by sets.
• Bowls at tournament level is played in singles, pairs, triples and fours. All four disciplines will be played in Glasgow. The parasport events debuting this year are mixed pairs and open triples.

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Yes. Click here

England's Ellen Falkner will be in action in Glasgow (@BowlsEng)