Finally, here’s a look ahead to the closing ceremony. One for the Peaky Blinders fans, this.
Despite Tahlia McGrath’s positive Covid test, Australia won women’s cricket gold. This is how they did it.
Looking for a rundown of the medal table? Well, look no further.
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Jessica Murray, our Midlands correspondent, has been speaking to Birmingham residents about what the Commonwealth means in the 21st century. In the words of Kashee Mistry, from Solihull: “If you think about the history of the Commonwealth and why it came about, for me, it’s not all celebratory.”
The Commonwealth Games action is nearing its end, with the closing ceremony to come this evening. Will Magee here, ready to take you through the best of our coverage from the last 24 hours. First up, here are six (well, actually seven) British athletes who have made breakthroughs in Birmingham.
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Summary of the day
We’re down to the last of the medals of Birmingham 2022, with Australia set to finish top of the medal table.
- The all-England men’s doubles squash final went in favour of James Willstrop and Declan James. There was a bronze for Scotland’s pairing of Greg Lobban and Rory Stewart. In the women’s doubles, New Zealand’ Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy got the better of England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters.
- Second seed Lakshya Sen of India won an epic men’s singles badminton final against fifth seed Malaysia’s Ng Tse Yong. Singapore’s Venkata Sindhu Pusarla took the women’s event against Michelle Li of Canada.
- In the table tennis India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta beat Liam Pitchford of England for gold. England’s Paul Drinkhall staged comeback after comeback but in the end it was Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of India who took the bronze.
- Australia’s men won the hockey with a 7-0 victory over India. England had taken the bronze with a 6-3 win over South Africa in the day’s earlier game.
- Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix of England dominated the 10m mixed synchronised diving, while it was James Heatly and Grace Reid of Scotland who took the honours in the 3m equivalent.
- The closing ceremony is at 8pm local time tonight in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, and is expected to last two hours or so.
- And then you need to set your alarm for 17 March 2026, when the next Commonwealth Games is expected to start in Victoria in Australia. Thank you for following our live coverage.
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Australia top the final medal table at the 2022 Commonwealth Games!
Those last results mean that since the games were held in Edinburgh in 1986 when they finished third, Australia have topped every single medal table bar one – 2014 in Glasgow. Here is how the table looks:
1: Australia 67 gold, 178 medals in total
2: England 56 gold, 173 in total
3: Canada 26, 92
4: India 22, 61
5: New Zealand 20, 49
6: Scotland 13, 51
7: Nigeria 12, 35
8: Wales 8, 28
9: South Africa 7, 27
10: Northern Ireland 7, 18
You can view the full table, laid out rather better, here:
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England's Willstrop and James win gold!
Men’s doubles squash: It was nice for the crowd in Birmingham to have an all-England final in the last squash contest for the penultimate medal of these Commonwealth Games.
In the end after a very tight and tense finish, James Willstrop and Declan James came out on top over Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby to win 11-3, 7-11, 11-9.
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Men’s doubles squash: The penultimate medal for Birmingham 2022 is going to the wire. James Willstrop and Declan James of England lead 9-7 in the deciding game against Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby also of England.
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Gold for Australia's men's hockey team as they thrash India 7-0
Men’s hockey: No other team have ever won a men’s Commonwealth Games hockey gold medal except for Australia, and in truth it never looked like they wouldn’t win here for an instant. Australia have beaten India 7-0. They didn’t even concede a penalty corner during this match, let alone a goal.
Men’s hockey: A video referee call has just disallowed Australia’s eighth goal for back stick. It will make no difference to the destination of the gold medal. There are about six minutes left. Australia lead India by 7-0.
Men’s doubles squash: Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby have kept themselves in the all-England doubles final by winning the second game 11-7.
We’ve now just got three live sports left as the 2022 Commonwealth Games winds down on its final day.
Hockey: Australia’s men still lead India 5-0, where they are about half-way through the third quarter.
Squash: James Willstrop and Declan James of England won the first game of the men’s doubles final 11-3 over Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby also of England.
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Gold for India's Sharath Kamal Achanta in the men's singles table tennis
Men’s singles table tennis: That controversy only delayed the inevitable, and 16 years after winning it for the first time, India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta has the Commonwealth gold medal in his grasp again. It is his thrid gold of Birmingham 2022. Silver for England’s Liam Pitchford. The final score 11 - 13, 11 - 7, 11 - 2, 11 - 6, 11 - 8.
Men’s singles table tennis: We’ve now got some controversy as the ball appeared to touch Achanta’s shirt at a point where he could have won the gold. The point was given to Pitchford to it is 10-8.
Men’s singles table tennis: India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta has three gold medal points.
Men’s doubles squash: The final two squash medals will definitely be going to England. The two James’ of James Willstrop and Declan James have taken a 7-2 lead in the first game against Adrian Waller and Daryl Selby in the men’s doubles final.
Men’s hockey: Australia go into half-time leading by 5-0 and absolutely cruising to the gold medal here. India have had a total of two shots so far.
Men’s singles table tennis: There is a time out here. India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta leads England’s Liam Pitchford 11-13, 11-7, 11-2 and 6-5 in game 4. India called the time-out as Pitchford had just put a series of four points together. The final is best of seven.
Men’s hockey: There has been what I believe is technically known as a “right old lengthy hoo-haa” in the hockey, which appeared to be to do with an argument about how many people were on the field. After much to-and-froing and disagreement the end result was play restarted, and Australia promptly made it 5-0, suggesting that India could do with a few more people on the field anyway. There was a green card to India along the way.
There are three golds left to be dished out today.
Hockey: Australia’s men now lead India 4-0 in the final as it is approaching half-time
Table tennis: The men’s singles where Sharath Kamal Achanta of India is leading England’s Liam Pitchford 9-2 in the third game at one game all.
Squash: An all-England men’s doubles final is starting shortly.
Men’s hockey: Australia have a second and third goal now to make it 3-0 over India in the 2nd quarter. Nathan Ephraums netted the second, then Jacob Anderson scored from close range after a penalty corner situation had been pinged around and not cleared properly.
Men’s singles table tennis: The first game has gone 13-11 to Liam Pitchford of England against India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta. The final is the best of seven.
Incidentally, all those worries about spelling Andrea Spendolini Sirieix correctly earlier, and then it turns out I keep typing Pritchford by mistake here.
Gold for New Zealand in the women's doubles squash!
Women’s doubles squash: As looked likely, Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy have wrapped that squash gold medal up 11-8, 11-8. England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters will have to be content with silver.
Waters will be thoroughly sick of the sight of King, who also beat her in the final when they were both part of mixed doubles pairings earlier in Birmingham 2022.
Men’s hockey: Australia have taken the lead in the gold medal match. Blake Govers with the goal. It has been a dominant display from the Aussies so far – India don’t yet have a shot to their name in this match as we near the end of the first quarter.
Women’s doubles squash: New Zealand are looking well-placed for gold here. Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy won the first game 11-8 and lead 9-6 in the second over England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters.
Bronze for India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in the men's single table tennis
Men’s singles table tennis: Heartbreak for Paul Drinkhall who staged comeback after comeback after comeback but ended up coming just short. The medal goes to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of India who wins *draws deep breath* 11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9
Both of them have at least the consolation that they won a gold earlier in the games.
Next up in the table tennis is the men’s gold medal match, which will see India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta matched up against Liam Pitchford of England.
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Men’s hockey: Australia and India have started the gold medal match. Australia are the defending champions, ranked #1 in the world, and have sailed through this tournament unbeaten having staged a massive comeback against England in the semi-final. They must be overwhelming favourites you would think. India are ranked fifth in the world.
Men’s singles table tennis: At one point he was 7-1 down, but Drinkhall has staged a mini-rally in this deciding game and the lead of India’s Gnanasekaran has been cut to 8-7. Barnstorming stuff this, which it is getting a rapturous reception from a very partisan crowd.
Men’s singles table tennis: Absolute scenes from Paul Drinkhall here who was 3-0 down but has taken the match to a deciding seventh game with an incredible comeback. Is the momentum with him to clinch the bronze?
Men’s singles table tennis: The bronze medal match is tightly poised here. 10-10 in the sixth game, with India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran leading 3-2 over Paul Drinkhall of England overall. Drinkhall needs to win this game to take it to a decider.
Just checking down my list of what we’ve still got coming up, and I can promise you:
Badminton – men’s doubles gold medal match and women’s doubles match. That all appears to be running late there at the NEC.
Hockey – in about 15 minutes Australia’s men will face India’s men for gold.
Squash – the women’s doubles final is a New Zealand v England affair, followed by an all-England men’s doubles final.
Table Tennis – the men’s singles bronze match is ongoing, I’ll update you on that in a second, and then there is the men’s singles final.
Bronze for Scotland in the men's doubles squash!
Men’s doubles squash: It turned out to be fairly straightforward for the Scottish pairing of Greg Lobban and Rory Stewart who have won the bronze medal 11-10, 11-6 in the end against their Malaysian opponents.
Gold for India's Lakshya Sen in men's singles badminton!
Men’s singles badminton: The medals keep coming. Lakshya Sen of India throws his racket into the crowd – surely a bit naughty – as he wins the third game and takes the gold medal.
Fifth seed Tze Yong Ng won the first game but couldn’t close it out, and finishes with silver. It has been a gripping hour and twenty minutes of badminton.
Gold and silver for England in the mixed synchronised 10m diving!
Mixed Synchronised 10m Diving: Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix have simply excelled in this today and take the last gold medal in the pool at Birmingham 2022 by some margin, 14.52 points.
In second it was English team-mates Kyle Kothari and Lois Mae Toulson.
The bronze medal came down to a tussle between Australian and Malaysian teams, but it was Cassiel Emmanuel Rousseau and Emily Ann Boyd of Australia who took bronze.
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Men’s singles badminton: It is 18-14 to Lakshya Sen of India in the third game, but Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia has just spent some time on the floor injured. He is up again, but moving quite awkwardly.
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Men’s singles badminton: Lakshya Sen of India is 15-10 up in the third game of the gold medal match against fifth seed Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia, who had a storming first match but who appears to have faded a bit. I would not bet against the second seed now.
Mixed Synchronised 10m Diving: Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix have extended their lead after the fourth dive. They are now 16.44 points ahead of their team mates. The Australian pair of Rousseau and Boyd are third. It will take a calamity to stop the gold going to England, surely?
Mixed Synchronised 10m Diving: After three rounds it is an England one-two in the diving competition. Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix, which is a great name to have to keep carefully typing out on a live blog of a fast-moving sporting event, are three points ahead of Kyle Kothari and Lois Mae Toulson.
Men’s singles table tennis: There is a bronze medal match going on between Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of India and Paul Drinkhall of England, and it is Gnanasekaran who is having the best of it so far. He leads 5-4 in the third game, having taken the first two 11-9, 11-3. It will take a big effort from Drinkhall to get back into this.
Men’s doubles squash: It is the Scottish pair who have the edge so far in the hunt for the bronze medal, winning the first game 11-10. But Malaysia are currently making a strong start to the second game, leading 3-1.
Men’s singles badminton: Lakshya Sen of India is second seed in this tournament, up against the fifth seed Tze Yong Ng. Having lost the first match, India’s Sen has put an incredible run together and from 6-8 down wins the second game 21-9. Ng has got to pull himself back together mentally you feel here.
Diving Mixed Synchronised 10m Platform: The first round of dives are complete in the final contest in the pool. The Malaysian pair of Jellson Jabillin and Pandelela Pamg lead after the first round, 1.80 points clear of England’s Noah Oliver Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix. Cassiel Emmanuel Rousseau and Emily Ann Boyd of Australia are third. That’s a long old way, isn’t it, a 10m dive?
Here is a quick recap of how the medal table stands as we go into the very last sports of this event. Australia are leading with 66 gold and 176 medals overall. England are second in the table with 55 golds among their 168.
There is quite a gap down to third place, with Canada sitting there on 26 golds among their 92 medal haul.
India are fourth, with the same number of golds – 19 – as fifth-placed New Zealand, but with eight medals more overall. India still have a chance to pick up a couple more golds yet today.
Scotland are placed sixth with 13 golds, Nigeria seventh with 12. Wales, South Africa and Northern Ireland make up the rest of the top ten.
And a big shout-out to Malta, Nauru, Niue and Vanuata, who are all tied in fortieth place with one bronze medal finish each. That is only the second time ever that Vanuata has picked up a medal, and boxer Duken Tutakitoa-Williams won Niue’s first ever Commonwealth Games medal at the sixth time of asking.
Men’s singles badminton: The first game of the gold medal match has taken 31 minutes and been extremely tightly fought, and finally Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia takes it 21-19 from Lakshya Sen of India. The Malaysian is after a second gold here, after he was part of the wining Malaysian team earlier in these Games.
Men’s doubles squash: The bronze medal match is next up in the squash court. Rory Stewart and Greg Lobban of Scotland will face Eain Yow Ng and Chee Wern Yuen of Malaysia.
Lobban was involved in one of the stories of the Games earlier this week when he got knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the mixed doubles contest by an Australian pairing that featured his wife Donna Lobban.
Hello, Martin Belam here. The gradual outbreak of World War III over the last few days means I’ve ended up doing a lot fewer stints on the Commonwealth Games live blog than I expected. But I am back here for the final day. We should have some more badminton, hockey, squash and table tennis all going on in the next couple of hours.
Righto, that’s me done for today and these Games, but here’s Martin Belam to guide you through the next bit. Ta-ra!
James Heatly & Grace Reid win gold for Scotland in the mixed synchronised 3m springboard diving!
Keeney & Li, the hot favourites, take silver for Australia, and Puteh & Sabri the bronze for Singapore. Cutmore & Bent-Ashmeil of England must settle for fourth.
Synchronised diving: ...ach, poor Bent-Ashmeil. She can’t stay straight, which means...
Synchronised diving: Heatly & Reid are still in front and are guaranteed the silver; only Cutmore & Bent-Ashmeil can relieve them of gold, who are on the board now...
Tianwei Feng & Jian Zeng win gold in the women's doubles table tennis!
They beat Minhyung Jee & Jian Fang Lay of Australia 11-1 11-8 11-8.
Synchronised diving: Keeney & Li do a fair job of their final effort – in comms they think it’s enough for gold, though entry isn’t that good – but it’s not! They’re penalised for insufficient synchronisation, and Heatly & Reid are still in the gold-medal position! Can England’s Cutmore & Bent-Ashmeil overtake them?
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Synchronised diving: A tremendous penultimate dive from England’s Ben Cutmore & Desharne Bent-Ashmeil takes them from fourth to second, relegating Heatly & Reid to third. But the top six are separated by just 11.82, and as I type, the Scottish pair nail their final dive, taking them to a final total of 306, then the Malaysians, in fourth, do too ... but must make do with 299! Can the Australians overtake the Scots?
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England beat South Africa 6-3 to win bronze in the men's hockey!
They’ll be disappointed to have lost their semi to Australia, but they look pretty pleased with life now, and rightly so – that was a great game.
Hockey: And it’s there! Wallace sweeps home into the side-netting, and England lead 6-3 with just over a minute left.
Hockey: Penalty to England! With 1.26 to go, if they can score this that’ll surely secure the bronze...
Synchronised diving: Yup, that third-round dive cost the Heatly & Reid, who now sit third on 162.30; Puteh & Sabri of Malaysia are now second on 165.60, with Keeney & Li leading on 167.70. But as I type that, the Scottish pair produce a pretty decent fourth dive, 8s mainly, then a really poor effort from the Malaysians, entering the water one after t’other, means the pair swap places.
Synchronised diving: Australia have a diver called Domonic Bedggood, and I’m extremely envious of his double Gs, the finest I’ve seen in the genre since Kumar Sangakkara and his dub-Ks.
Synchronised diving: A relatively poor effort from the Scottish pair, whose synchronisation on entry is poor, is superseded by the Aussies, the favourites for gold, and they now lead.
Synchronised diving: After round two of five, Heatly & Reid share the lead with Keeney and Li of Australia, both on 100.20. We’re warming up.
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Hockey: England have scrambled a fifth goal against SA, Roper nudging home after Ward’s shot was parried, and with 9.40 left, it’s 5-3.
Hockey: We’re into Q4 in the hockey and Payne has just saved England, tipping a shot around the post. They lead SA 4-3 with just under 13 minutes left.
Carey & Hursey win bronze for Wales in the women's doubles table tennis!
They beat Wong & Zhou of Singapore 3-1 and Carey is in floods of tears. Hursey, just 16, is as happy as you’d think, but for her, this is normal.
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Synchronised diving: Heatly and Reid lie second after round one, then find another decent effort to take first. But they’re also going first, so need to see how things shake out to really know where they stand.
Table tennis: Wong & Zhou nab a set back, and now trail Carey & Hursey by two sets to one; it’s 5-5 in the fourth.
Hockey: England recycle after a corner and following up about the penalty spot, Roper absolutely nails a bouncing ball into the corner. That is brilliantly taken and they lead SA 4-3 with just over five minutes left in Q3.
Diving: The men’s synchronised 3m springboard final will soon be away, and Scotland will fancy James Heatly and Grace Reid to get a medal – at least.
Table tennis: Carey & Hursey are playing beautifully, taking the second set off Wong & Zhou and now leading 6-5 in the third.
Hockey: We’re back under way in the men’s bronze-medal match, England and South Africa locked at 3-3.
Terry Hee and Jessica Tan win the badminton mixed doubles for Singapore!
They win nine straight points to go from 11-12 down to 20-12 up, clinch the second set, and take the gold. Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith of England must settle for silver; Ellis won the men’s doubles in 2018, but Smith now has six Commonwealth medals, none of them the biggun.
Hockey: It’s England 3-3 South Africa at half-time. The final two quarters should be great.
Table tennis: Wales take the first set, but now trail 5-4 in the second.
Hockey: This is a real Mexico 86, France v Belgium of a third-place playoff; South Africa have equalised from a penalty corner, making it 3-3. and we’re almost at half-time.
Table tennis: I should’ve said, Hursey is just 16. Wikipedia says:
She is thought to be the youngest person to represent Wales at senior level in any sport, having been aged just 10 when she competed for Wales in a European Championship qualification match against Kosovo in 2017.
That is absolutely wild.
Table tennis: In the women’s doubles bronze-medal match, it’s Carey & Hursey of Wales v Wong & Zhou of Singapore. Singapore lead 12-11.
Hockey: Sam Ward scores for England! Following a penalty corner, he drags a long way and wellies a finish high into the net. This is a great game, and we’ve still got five minutes to go before half-time.
Badminton: Hee & Tan of Singapore are playing Ellis & Smith of England in the mixed doubles final. Currently, Hee & Tan lead 1-0, 9-7, so the English pair have a lot of work to do.
Hockey: What a goal! Ansell beats a man moving across the face of the circle, gets just inside it, and leathers home a brilliant finish! England 2-2 SA, 6.25 left in Q2.
Hockey: England are playing South Africa in the bronze-medal match and have just conceded, indecision at the back allowing SA to take a 2-1 lead.
Preamble
After 10 days, 268 gold medals and innumerable memories, here we are on day 12 with our athletes competing in our final 12 events. And with the closing ceremony scheduled for this evening, those are squeezed into the early part of the day, meaning we’ve plenty to go on as we seek to forget that it’s Monday morning.
We begin and end with men’s hockey – England face South Africa in the bronze-medal match, after which Australia meet India for the gold – while, in between times, we’ve got doubles and singles finals in the badminton; one of each in the table tennis; two doubles in the squash, and a pair in the synchronised diving.
So stick with us as we savour the last of the excitement, because make no mistake, we’ll be missing it tomorrow.
