GLASGOW - Nicol David won Malaysia’s second gold of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Monday, crushing English world champion Laura Massaro 12-10, 11-2, 11-5 in a one-sided final.
The world number one started slowly and trailed 8-2 in the opening game before finding her range to dominate proceedings. “It is a great win - probably even more special being the Commonwealth Games gold medal,” said David. “To actually win it for the second time round is such an amazing feat. It’s such a high being at the Commonwealth Games. It’s the pinnacle of any squash multi-sport games to be winning this gold.”
In bowls, South Africa defeated Northern Ireland 19-10 to take the men’s triples gold and Scotland’s Alex Marshall and Paul Foster were too good for Malaysia in the men’s pairs final winning 20-3. It was a 12th gold medal for the hosts, topping Scotland’s previous record tally of 11 won at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
For South Africa the win made it two golds out of four in the bowls so far following success in the women’s fours on Sunday with New Zealander Jo Edwards taking the women’s singles. India won a seventh gold medal of the games through Jitu Rai in the men’s 50m pistol at Carnoustie on Scotland’s east coast, while England’s Dan Greaves topped the para-sport discus competition at Hampden Park. Star turn on the first full day of action in the famed football arena was Olympic champion Kirani James of Grenada as he progressed smoothly to the semi-finals of the men’s 400m, winning his heat in 45.52 seconds.
But the top performance of the morning session, however, belonged to Canadian decathlete Damian Warner, who produced a blistering 10.29sec in the opening 100m of the two-day 10-discipline event.
The Games record and personal best gave Warner, the reigning world bronze medallist, a massive 1,025 pts to kick off his campaign. England’s John Lane and South African Willem Coertzen were next fastest with 10.71 and 10.88sec, the only other decathlete to dip under the 11sec barrier being Welshman David Guest. Lane followed up on his 100m personal best with another in the second event, the long jump, managing a best of 7.50m at his second attempt. Warner leapt out to the exact same distance to consolidate his lead on 1960pts from Lane’s 1861
The evening session at Hampden Park sees the semi-finals and finals in both the men and women’s 100m. Over in the pool Australia’s Cameron McEvoy took first blood in the men’s 50m freestyle heats ahead of Aussie rival James Magnussen. McEvoy was beaten to gold in the 100m freestyle on Sunday night, but qualified for Monday evening’s semi-finals fastest in a time of 22:04sec. McEvoy already has four medals from the meet in Glasgow as he also took silver in the 200m freestyle and was part of the Aussie team that struck gold in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.
Attention turns to the women’s 100m freestyle on Monday night as world champion Cate Campbell of Australia, her sister Bronte, and England’s Fran Halsall look set to battle it out for the medals. The Campbells went fastest in Sunday’s semi-finals, but Halsall has already claimed two golds in Glasgow in the 50m freestyle and butterfly.
In shooting, England’s Michael Gault failed in his bid to become the all-time most-decorated Commonwealth Games competitor as he missed out on qualification for the final of the men’s 50m pistol won by India’s Rai. Gault on Saturday tied the all-time record of 18 with a medal in the 10m air pistol.
Olympic champion Nicola Adams of England begins her bid to become one of the first women to win a Commonwealth Games boxing gold medal. Fighting in the flyweight division, the 31-year-old is favourite after she became the first women’s Olympic boxing champion at London in 2012.
New Zealand will be confident of weightlifting gold when Richard Patterson takes part in the men’s 85kg division having won silver in Delhi in 2010. In the women’s 69kg, Cameroon’s favourite Marie Fegue faces a challenge from 15-year-old English lifter, Rebekah Tiler.