That’s all from this live blog for today – here’s all the news from Friday, and a look ahead to a big Saturday of action. Thanks for joining me. Bye!
Triple jump gold for Jamaica! In the final athletics medal event to finish, Shanieka Ricketts wins by a distance – 55cm to be precise. Ricketts’ Games record of 14.94m beats Dominica’s Theo Lafond (14.39m), with England’s Naomi Metzger taking a breakthrough bronze with a personal best of 14.37m.
Australia into women’s hockey final after shootout controversy: Australia are through after a 3-0 shootout win, but India may feel hard done by after Rosie Malone missed with the very first penalty, only for it to be retaken due to a shot-clock error. Australia advance to play England in the final; India will play New Zealand for bronze.
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Kenya win 3,000m steeplechase gold! Chepkoech wins gold at a canter while England’s Lizzy Bird overtakes Chemetai to take silver. The Ugandan wins bronze despite running through pain, and she needs to be helped away from the track after finishing.
The 3,000m steeplechase had been a two-woman race between Kenya’s Jackline Chepkoech and Uganda’s Peruth Chemetai – but with 600m to go, Chemetai trips on a barrier! Her rival is away, and Lizzie Bird is now closing in ...
India have levelled late on against Australia! Time for another shootout? Back at the Alexander Stadium, we’ve got the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final and final round of the triple jump to come.
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Grenada (population: 124,610) have only won three Commonwealth golds in history, and Lindon Victor has won two of them. The other was Kirani James in the 400m at Glasgow 2014.
Decathlon gold for Grenada! Golubovic is dominant in the 1,500m, pulling away from Australia teammate Dubler and winning by around 100m to take silver. Lindon Victor runs out of steam at the end and is beaten to the line by England’s Harry Kendall, but he’s still done enough to win gold, and retain his title from 2018!
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In the second women’s hockey semi-final, Australia still lead India 1-0 as we head into the fourth quarter. Time to focus on the track, with a couple of big races to round off the night.
First up, it’s the final event of the decathlon, the 1500m. Grenada’s Lindon Victor is on course for gold after winning the javelin event earlier, with a battle on for silver and bronze between two Australians – Cedric Dubler and Daniel Golubovic.
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Back to the track, where the third men’s 400m semi-final is about to begin. Uganda’s Haron Adoli and Barbados’ Jonathan Jones were fastest in the first two. This is a big moment for Matthew Hudson-Smith, who hails from just up the road in Wolverhampton.
Going into the bend in a fight for the lead, the English runner opens up his stride to win the semi-final, with Jamaica’s Nathon Allen in second. Hudson-Smith’s time of 45.77 isn’t spectacular, on a breezy and chilly night, but he qualifies fastest overall.
“It’s cold!” Hudson-Smith says afterwards. “It was a messy run. I’m a bit tired [after the world championship] but the crowd lifted me.”
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Gold for England in lawn bowls! The trio of Jamie-Lea Winch, Natalie Chestney and Sian Honnor have beaten Malaysia 17-9 in the women’s triples final.
In the women’s triple jump final, England’s Naomi Metzger is in bronze medal position after two consecutive personal bests. Thea Lafond of Dominica is currently second, with Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts in line for the gold medal.
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England have beaten New Zealand in women’s hockey, T20 cricket and netball in the last 24 hours or so – but NZ have taken a modicum of revenge with victory in the women’s beach volleyball quarter-finals, winning two sets to nil.
Here’s our report on England’s dramatic hockey semi-final win over New Zealand:
T53/54 1500m gold for England's Nathan Maguire!
Nathan Maguire has won gold in the men’s wheelchair T53/54 1500m, fighting back to beat compatriot Daniel Sidbury in a dramatic sprint, with Australia’s Sam Carter in third. Maguire’s partner, Hannah Cockroft, already bagged 100m Games gold earlier this week.
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If you’re just waking up in Australia, the big news to report is that having won 50 golds so far at these Games, there has been a gold drought so far today. Here are the main headlines:
- Caleb Ewan will miss Sunday’s cycling road race after failing to recover from surgery in time
- Brittany O’Brien took silver in the 1m springboard event behind Canada’s Mia Vallee
- Sam Fricker and Shixin Li took an unexpected bronze in the 3m men’s synchro final
- In the women’s hockey, Australia are leading India 1-0, with the winners to face England in the gold medal game
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Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah absolutely strolls through the third semi-final, getting home in 22.63 and still wearing her training top with a slight chill in the air. Canada’s Natassha McDonald is second, with Scotland’s Beth Dobbin doing enough to squeeze into the final.
One of the contenders for women’s 200m gold, Namibia’s Christine Mboma, has cruised through her semi-final in 22.93, with Australia’s Ella Connolly in second.
A quick update from elsewhere: Canada beat Cyprus in the men’s beach volleyball to set up a semi-final with England, while England’s women are playing their quarter-final against New Zealand right now, with their opponents one set up.
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A little earlier on, Zharnel Hughes secured his place in the men’s 200m final, which is on Saturday night. Hughes won his semi-final in a time of 20.32.
In the men’s shot put, it’s a one-two for New Zealand, with Tom Walsh edging out Jacko Gill, who set a personal best. England’s Scott Lincoln was third on.
Time for some athletics action, and the women’s 200m semi-finals. Nigeria’s Favour Ofili wins the first of them with a bit to spare – but there’s a big battle behind her to qualify. Jamaica’s Nattaliah Whyte gets the automatic spot in a photo-finish, ahead of the Gambia’s Gina Bass, who will have to wait and see if her time is quick enough.
Synchro diving gold for England!
Noah Williams and Matty Lee led going into the final round, but with their toughest dive left to perform. It’s not perfect, with the synchronisation slightly out as they hit the water – but it’s comfortably enough to secure first place!
Canada’s Rylan Weins and Nathan Zsombor-Murray take silver, with Australia’s Domonic Bedggood and Cassiel Rousseau taking bronze. Williams and Lee’s golds continue a stellar Games for England’s divers.
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That’s me done for the day, I’ll be back tomorrow for what could be a super/splendid/spectacular Saturday. Niall McVeigh is here to take you through the final few hours. Goodnight!
Thanks, James. Let’s dive straight in with an important update from the aquatics centre ...
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Diving: In the men’s synchronised 10m (very high!) platform final the English pair of Noah Williams and Matty Lee are currently in *whisper it* gold medal position after five of the six dives. Can they hold off the Canadian and Australian pairs to hold onto the gold? Can Ben Cutmore and Kyle Kothari, the second English duo - who are currently in fourth - squeak their way onto the podium? There’s only one way to find out - DIVE!
Athletics: In the women’s 400m semi-finals both Victoria Ohurougu and Jodie Williams have qualified for the final.
Katherine Merry on the Beeb comms had this to say about Ohurougu (sister of Christine)
I have been impressed by Victoria Ohuruogu all season and she really is in the form of her life. Nicely done. She’s looking very good indeed. The famous name in 400m running and the experience that her sister has is rubbing off.”
Phew - that was a pulsating match. I was so engrossed watching the shootout on my phone that I didn’t notice the coverage on the tv flick over, Monty Don in a lovely navy tunic in his potting shed is a bit of a comedown from those penalties. Righto, I’ve got a bit of time left before I hand the blogging baton over to Niall McVeigh for the evening session, let’s see what’s occurin’ shall we?
Hockey: Hannah Martin... SCORES! The ball trickles inside the post, Martin wheels away with joy and is mobbed by her teammates! England go through to the final and will play the winner of India v Australia in the final.
Great scenes. Goalkeeper Maddy Hinch the star of the shootout with a couple of amazing saves.
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Hockey: Great keeping from England’s Maddy Hinch! Izzy Petter then steps up to score! England are a whisker away!
Hockey: England miss too! these pens look hard! Sure enough New Zealand miss their next. Still no goals. Lily Owlsey up for England, jinking and turning... saved! Still no goals!
Hockey: New Zealand miss their first penalty!
Hockey: That was an enthralling end to the women’s hockey as England pressed for a clincher but alas the clock ticks down and the match will be decided by a penalty shootout.
Hockey: Close! England have a couple of penalty corners but are thwarted by the kiwi keeper who throws herself around the goal to deny the home team. Tick follows tock - about nine minutes to go before we reach the dreaded P word.
Hockey: Less jolly hockey sticks and more squeaky bum time over at the University where the women’s hockey semi final between England and New Zealand is still deadlocked at 0-0. The final quarter has just begun.
Are we heading for penalties? Or a Super-Over maybe?
Diving: Canada’s Mia Vallee takes Gold in the 1m springboard final, Australia’s Brittany Mae O’Brien gets the Silver and - with a fantastic, nerveless final dive - England’s Amy Rollinson grabs the Bronze!
“Gutsy, gritty, and determined” says the commentator of the 18-year-old from Luton.
Sean Ingle is soaking it all up in Birmingham. Here’s his preview of what could be a ‘super Saturday’ MK II.
Diving: Great fourth dive from England’s Amy Rollinson who notches up a 61.50 from the judges to see her work her way into fourth place as it stands. She’ll need a barnstormin’ final dive to be in with a chance of getting on the podium.
I saw this earlier and it blew my mind. Well worth a watch:
🚨 Epic Badminton highlight alert 🚨
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 5, 2022
What a rally 🤯
What a point 💯
Sean Vendy ➕ Ben Lane 🟰🔥🔥🔥#BringitHome | #Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/iR8Nzjn21o
Hockey: Half time in the women’s semi final - New Zealand 0 England 0. A bit of a disjointed, nervy affair so far.
Diving: In the women’s 1m springboard final England’s Amy Elisabeth Rollinson has slipped down to sixth place after three rounds. Grace Elizabeth Reid of Scotland sits above her and then it is the Aussie trio of Esther Qin, Georgia Sheehan and Brittany Mae O’Brien in fourth, third, second respectively. Canada’s Mia Jolie Doucet Vallee is in the gold medal position and 19 points clear of the crowd. Two rounds to go!
Cycling news:
Sam Watson joins Team England Road race line-up 🚴
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 5, 2022
Team England has announced that Sam Watson will be joining the line-up for Sunday’s Men’s Road Race. The 20-year-old will step in to replace Matt Walls.#BringItHome | #Birmingham2022
Hockey: It’s still all square in the women’s hockey semi-final between England and New Zealand, it’s been a frenetic start but is still goalless half-way through the second quarter. Feels like there is a big moment coming...
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The women’s hockey semi-final between England and New Zealand is goalless after the first quarter while at the aquatics centre, England’s Amy Rollinson leads the 1m women’s springboard final after the first round.
Gymnastics gold for England’s Marfa Ekimova! The 17-year-old has held on after the floor exercises in the all-round final, beating Cypriot Anna Sokolova by 0.200 points. She becomes the first English athlete to win Commonwealth gold in rhythmic gymnastics.
England are into the men’s beach volleyball semi-finals! The Gambian pair won the second set 22-20, but England prevail in the tie-break set after a dramatic match point where the Bello twins twice dug the ball out before finding a gap.
England advance to the semi-finals, where they will play Canada or Cyprus. The other semi-final will see Australia against Rwanda, the African nation shocking New Zealand in their earlier quarter-final.
Over at the Coventry Arena, George Ramm has won bronze for England in the men’s freestyle wrestling after beating Nauru’s Lowe Bigham. The 65kg category final saw India’s Bajrang Punia defeat Canada’s Lachlan McNeil to win gold.
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“Runner’s dreams crushed by own penis...” as far as sporting headlines go this is certainly up there. The ‘problem’ for 400m runner Albert Nonino was firmly ‘down there’ as a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ hindered his performance in the 400 metres at the U20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia. I can’t put anything else in inverted commas.
Alberto Nonino had a day to forget at the World U-20 Athletics Championships in Colombia.
— Sports Brief (@sportsbriefcom) August 5, 2022
He has since take to his Instagram account to explain what happened and apologize for the wardrobe malfunction.#Cali22#WorldAthleticsU20#WorldAthleticsChampshttps://t.co/Q4busCN6jY
This is like one of those horrible dreams you have before a job interview or a date. Sending solidarity Albert. Shush at the back!
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Beach volleyball: The sun is beating down in Costa del Smithfield as English twins Javier and Joaquin Bello storm into a one set lead in their quarter-final against Gambian duo Sainey Jawo and Mbye Babou Jarra. Some excellent volleyball on display in that first set which the England pair took 21 points to 16 in front of a rapturous crowd. Set two is about to start...
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Furrowed pitch leads to furrowed brows...
Some news from over in the footy blog - apparently - the pitch at the Coventry Building Society Arena is in a right old state after the venue hosted the rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games.
As a result, Coventry’s meeting with Rotherham, currently scheduled for 3pm on Sunday, has been thrown into doubt, and the home club have confirmed that a pitch inspection will take place tomorrow:
NEWS: Coventry City can confirm that a pitch inspection will take place on Saturday, ahead of Sunday's home game against Rotherham United.
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) August 5, 2022
➡️ https://t.co/ISRGrBlP5q #PUSB pic.twitter.com/HpGlAJID7N
A feast for the eyes right here.
These daily picture galleries from the Games are a thing of real beauty:
Table Tennis: England duo Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho have gone down in a razor wire quarter final match against Indian pair Achanta Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja. Gutting for England, who are eliminated after being pipped 11-9 in the deciding game.
Lovely piece this, by Sachin Nakrani of this parish.
‘It was just what we needed’: how Birmingham 2022 saved our holiday | By @SachinNakrani https://t.co/Y7FTZM9Rxp
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) August 5, 2022
Netball: Wales go down to Malawi over in the NEC arena, unable to cling on to an early lead they lost a tight match 56 points to 62. That result means Malawi take seventh position and Wales finish eighth.
Who else is left to play you ask?
This is your sign to cancel all other plans on Saturday#BringItHome | #Birmingham2022 | #B2022 | #Nettytwitter pic.twitter.com/ZHhCavkiI1
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 4, 2022
Gymnastics: 17-year-old Marfa Ekimova is heading (geddit?) for a medal in the individual all-around final, but what colour will it be?
Watch out @Lionesses this ball control from our rhythmic gymnasts could give you a run for your 🏆 ... 👀 pic.twitter.com/wq7NX3RcR4
— Team England (@TeamEngland) August 5, 2022
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Here’s the crowd well and truly getting behind England’s Harry Kendall in the pole vault event of the decathlon earlier today. Kendall surfed their hollers to clear 5m40 and notch a lifetime best.
💬"I have never, ever heard a noise like it for a Decathlon Pole Vault clearance ... that is extraordinary!"
— Birmingham 2022 (@birminghamcg22) August 5, 2022
Harry Kendall took centre stage at Alexander Stadium today ... and the crowd showed him some love!#B2022 #CommonwealthGames pic.twitter.com/XTNvnM2Wxk
The 3m men’s in Britain is so tough, it’s so hard to get on the big stage. I’ve worked so hard. I’ve had to be patient, I’ve had to wait for it, really. It’s thanks to Jack for seeing me in training and seeing how good I can be and trusting in me, believing in me.”
Here’s a nice piece from Tumaini who is our man in the shallow end at the aquatic centre:
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This is a nice moment from this morning:
Getting 30,000 people to wish @cindyofili a happy birthday… I ❤️ Birmingham #B2022 pic.twitter.com/4Qf8zXHkra
— Iwan Thomas MBE (@Iwanrunner) August 5, 2022
A touching moment for Cindy Sember who had just qualified for the women’s 100m hurdles final.
Beach volleyball: The Aussie duo of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho are too strong for the spirited Scottish pairing of Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts. The Scots put up a fine display in front of an appreciative crowd but it is the Australians who progress to the semi-final.
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Badminton: England’s Jessica Pugh and Callum Hemming have beaten Katherine Wynter and Joel Angus of Jamaica 21-11 and 21-7 to take their place in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Gold! Always believe in!
Legends!!! 🔥🔥🔥
— Team Scotland (@Team_Scotland) August 5, 2022
This is the first time ever @Team_Scotland has won gold in the Lawn Bowls Para Mixed Pairs B2/B3 event at a Commonwealth Games🥇#TeamScot #TimeForHeroes pic.twitter.com/pRBnRZFhT5
I also like the Team Scotland hashtag ‘Time for Heroes’. Wonder if these lads are any good with orb in hand?
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Scotland's George Miller becomes the Games' oldest gold medallist!
Scotland take the lawn bowls title in the para mixed pairs B2/B3 gold medal match. Robert Barr and Melanie Inness overcoming Wales’ Gordon Llewellyn and Julie Thomas 16-9.
Inness’ director George Miller overtakes fellow Scot Rosemary Lenton, who won the women’s Para mixed pairs on Wednesday (aged 72), to become the oldest competitor to get the gold around the neck.
Speaking to the BBC shortly after the victory Miller said:
“I think Rosemary’s quite pleased... It’s great, fantastic. A year ago I never dreamed of being here. I got a phone call, and nearly fell off my chair to be honest. Here we are - where are we going to go from here?!
“It’s all there to be tried. Everyone can try any sport at all. Bowls is easier for older people - but any sport. Walking football, rugby, you name it. Get out there and exercise, play games, compete. It’s brilliant whatever age you are.”
Amen to that George, inspiring stuff.
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Beach Volleyball: Sunshine beats down on the sands of... Smithfield as Scotland’s pairing of Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts take on the Australian duo of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho in the quarter finals. The Aussies have just taken the first set 21-11.
Decathlon: The Australian’s dominated the pole vault in the end - Cedric Dubler clearing 5metres but failing to go over 5m10. Still it gives him a narrow lead of 39 points over defending champ - the appropriately named Lindon Victor of Grenada.
Daniel Golubovic is in bronze place 100 points behind fellow countryman Dubler and 150 points behind them is... another Aussie - Alec Diamond.
England’s Harry Kendall is in sixth position, a medal might well be out of his reach but it’ll be a thrilling finale this evening in the stadium. The gold medal could go anywhere with just the javelin and 1500m to go.
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Bowls: Just nipping back to say that Scotland are looking like they are going to take the spoils in the para mixed pairs B2/B3 gold medal match, they’ve gone into an 11-6 lead with four ends to go. Wales need to go some now to get back into the match.
UPDATE: Make that 14-9 to Scotland with two ends to go!
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I’ve got my eyes on fridge... and the Decathlon pole vault, Harry Kendall bows out after failing to clear 4m50. Aussie Cedric Dubler joins in the action and clears 4m70 by a huge distance!
Here’s Hazel! Lady Irvine welcomes us to afternoon coverage on the Beeb. There’s a slight lull in the action so I’m going to grab a spot of lunch, will be back v shortly but behave yourselves, especially you.
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Decathlon: Pole vault - Harry Kendall clears 4m40 at the final attempt! That’s a lifetime best for the Englishman, he’ll now have three stabs at 4m50! All the while current leader Cedric Dubler sits on the sidelines waiting for the bar to get to somewhere near his level.
Decathlon: England’s Harry Kendall made a vault of 4m.30 and is on a second attempt at a lifetime best of 4m40 (his current best is 4m34) the crowd will him on and... so close he nearly sneaks over but just nudges the pole off with his chest. The crowd grown and Kendall gives the pole a wry smile from the chunky matt. He’ll have one final shot at it shortly.
Bowls: It really is hypnotic viewing*, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Scotland lead 5-4 after seven ends but Wales have just played a delicious shot to nudge the jack towards their own bowls. The crowd don’t go wild exactly but there is very warm applause and rightly so.
*I know this is indoor not outdoor but just look at this from last year’s world champs. I could watch it on repeat for hours.
Decathlon: Harry Kendall is loving the home support in the stadium. The Englishman is feeding off the energy of the crowd to clear 4.10m and then 4.20m!
Bowls: It’s blustery in Victoria Park in the para mixed pairs B2/B3 gold medal match between Scotland and Wales, making it tricky conditions for the players to do their stuff in. It’s compelling viewing though, scores are tied on 4 apiece after six ends.
Netball: Scotland have pipped Northern Ireland to ninth place with a comfortable 43-33 victory. Next up, Wales will do battle with Malawi for seventh and eighth.
Badminton: My ma and pa met playing badminton and my brother used to work for the governing body for a while so you could say we’ve got shuttlecocks in the blood? The attic of the family home is still chock full of the feathery things much to ma’s chagrin.
Anyway... England number three seeds Ben Lane and Sean Vendy have made it through to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Canadian pairing Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura.
Decathlon: It’s getting tasty in the men’s decathlon with three events to go. We are on to the pole vault, which lets face it, is always fun to watch. Love to see that pole bend and twang.
Seven events done and defending champion, Grenada’s Lindon Victor, sits atop the pile on 5989 points.
That’s 52 points clear of Aussie Cedric Dubler, who leads fellow countryman Daniel Golubovic by 70 points.
Long Jump: England’s Abigail Irozuru has fouled twice in the long jump heats, the dreaded red flag being unfurled on both occasions. She’ll have a nervy third jump...
Teammates Jazmin Sawyers and Lorraine Ugen breeze through to the final, can Irozuru join them? She can!
A jump of 6.59 sees the 32-year-old through to the final. She still pushed the plasticine (is that a phrase?) though, just a couple of centimetres from another foul, brave stuff. A trio of English jumpers in the final.
Netball: A blast of ‘Uptown Funk’ from the NEC arena at the interval between Scotland and Northern Ireland. The sounds of Mark Ronson and co are soon replaced by the mice-like squeak of trainer on lacquered court floor as the players emerge for the third quarter. A tight game, Scotland currently lead their celtic rivals by 25 to 21.
Athletics: “You could throw a blanket over them” Excellent commentary from Steve Cram as he calls the next women’s 1500m heat, it’s a wall of bodies on the finish line, Scotland’s Jemma Reekie struggling to find a way through the pack on the line and finishing in sixth place. It looks like she might just miss out on qualification.
No such problems for England’s Katie Snowden or Australia’s Jessica Hull who go through to the final along with Winnie Nanyondo of Uganda, Winny Chebet of Kenya and Canadian Lucia Stafford.
Athletics: The tv coverage is a bit behind but has just shown Scotland’s Laura Muir finishing fourth in the 1500m qualifier, she goes through to Sunday’s final with a time of 4:14.11
Thanks Luke and g’day everyone. Another packed day in Birmingham, I’ve got all my devices beaming out various track, field and err bowls events. Let’s do this.
That’s all from me for the moment, I shall leave you in the capable hands of James Wallace for the next bit.
Tonia Couch, on pundit duty for the BBC, has sympathy for Laugher’s predicament in not being able to sleep last night. This all reminds of a good story from Asif Kapadia’s Maradona documentary – the teammate who he roomed with before the 1986 World Cup final (can’t remember his name now) explained how Maradona, the night before the big match, just said: “We’ve got a game tomorrow, let’s sleep” and was snoring away two minutes later. A winning mentality, I guess.
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Jack Laugher speaks to the BBC after his second gold medal in as many days: “Obviously two golds is amazing ... I’ve still got things to improve on ... I only had a couple of hours sleep ... I ate really late last night, and the buzz and excitement with doing so well in the 1metre ... hopefully I’ll be able to sleep better tonight.”
Anthony Harding is asked how he feels he dealt with the pressure: “I dealt with it OK. Ii could have been better. I’ve had a tough last few years ... I’ve worked so hard, I’ve had to be patient ... thanks to Jack for trusting in me ... I’m hoping we can do better things.”
Gold for England's Harding and Laugher in the men's synchronised 3m springboard!
A dominant display from the English duo and it’s gold ...
1) Laugher and Harding (England) 438.33
2) Puteh and Gilbert Daim (Malaysia) 376.77
3) Li and Fricker (Australia) 374.52
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Men’s decathlon: Lindon Victor of Grenada, the defending champion, throws 46.54m in the discus to retake the overall lead.
Athletics: The men’s 4x400m relay heats have begun on the track. Always a fun event to watch ...
Botswana, Jamaica and Zambia place first, second and third in a very competitive heat. The winning time is 3min 05.11sec for Botswana – Nigeria will have to wait and see if they qualify after coming home fourth.
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Diving: The men’s synchronised 3m springboard final is getting the crowd going in the pool.
England’s pairing of Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher lead the way with a very healthy score of 189.12 after three dives. Malaysia’s duo of Yiwei Chew and Tze Liang Ooi are second, as it stands, with 170.70.
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Netball: Scotland and Northern Ireland are about to get under way in their ninth-place playoff encounter. Trinidad and Tobago defeated Barbados earlier to nab 11th place overall.
Athletics: Ciara Mageean of Northern Ireland won that first heat in a time of 4min 13.52sec. Abbey Caldwell (Aus) second, Edinah Jebitok (Kenya) third, Linden Hall (Aus) fourth and Laura Muir of Scotland fifth. It looks like Melissa Courtney-Bryant of Wales has missed out by finishing sixth.
Athletics: In that first women’s 1500m heat, Muir was at the back of the field in the late stages of the race (not including the athlete from Lesotho who was miles behind) and she was in danger of not qualifying, but she accelerates into the final straight, and finishes fifth ... or was it fourth?
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Athletics: Laura Muir is out on the track now in her 1500m heat.
Lawn bowls: England eventually closed out an 18-14 win in the women’s pairs quarter-final.
Diving: Next up will be the men’s synchronised 3m springboard final.
Diving: The qualifying for the women’s 1m springboard is complete.
Mia Vallee of Canada will dive last in this evening’s final, having scored 292.20, while Yasmin Harper of England qualifies second-best with 274.60. Esther Qin (Australia) was third-best, scoring 266.95.
Scotland’s Grace Reid qualifies fifth, with 259.10, Amy Rollinson (237.50) was sixth.
The final is scheduled to begin at 6.05pm UK time.
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Kenya win the 9th-placed playoff against Ghana in the women's hockey!
It may “only” be for ninth place, but that meant the world to Kenya, who equalised with three minutes left, and go on to defeat Ghana in sudden death in the shootout!
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Women’s netball: In the playoff for 11th and 12th places, Trinidad and Tobago have defeated Barbados 63-31.
Scotland v Northern Ireland are up next, playing off for ninth place, from 11.30am.
Women’s hockey: Ghana and Kenya are drawing 2-2 in the fourth quarter of the match that will determine who gets the wooden spoon, by finishing 10th, and who comes 9th overall. Wales v South Africa is coming up at 11.15am UK time and they will battle for seventh spot.
Coming up this evening, England meet New Zealand in the first semi-final (6pm UK time) before Australia v India at 8.15pm UK.
It’s now full-time in that Ghana v Kenya match, at 2-2, and it’s going into a shootout after Kenya equalised with three minutes left! The dreaded penalty competition, as Barry Davies would have had it.
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Hockey, table tennis and para table tennis and diving are also ongoing at the moment, if the live schedule on the official website is to be believed.
In the women’s pairs bowling, England increased their lead to five points momentarily, but India have just struck back with three simultaneous shots, and all of a sudden it’s 14-12.
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to day eight. What’s occurring today?
There is diving, there is wrestling, and there is athletics, to name but a few. Right now on Her Majesty’s BBC1, it’s lawn bowls, with England (Sophie Tolchard and Amy Pharaoh) leading India (Lovely Choubey and Nayanmoni Saikia) 13-9 after 13 ends in the women’s pairs quarter-final.
Let’s do this ...
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