Glasgow: Canada’s Patricia Bezzoubenko was crowned queen of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday, completing a five gold medal haul in rhythmic gymnastics.
Bezzoubenko had already won two golds in the team and all-around events and she added three more on Saturday in the clubs, ball and hoop individual disciplines.
The one gold that escaped her grasp was in the ribbon, which went to Francesca Jones, giving Wales their first gold medal of the Games.
The other golds to be won early on in the third day of competition went to Australia’s Daniel Repacholi in the men’s 10m air pistol and England in the triathlon mixed team relay, with the Brownlee brothers Alistair and Jonathan to the fore again.
But the toast of the town in the shooting event was third-placed Mick Gault of England, who at 60 won a record-equalling 18th Commonwealth Games medal.
New Zealand, meanwhile, crushed Canada 39-0 to get the Rugby Sevens tournament underway on a day when 27 gold medals were up for grabs, notably in swimming, judo, shooting and cycling.
Set to make its Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, rugby union sevens will have the chance to shine at Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium.
The line-up is staggeringly strong for the abbreviated form of the game, with all-conquering New Zealand bidding to maintain their remarkable unbeaten record and bid for a fifth successive gold medal — a run that was kicked off by the Jonah Lomu-inspired triumph in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
In netball, the two title favourites, Australia and England, played out a group stage thriller that the Australians edged 49-48.
In the morning qualifying session in the swimming pool, there was more success for Scotland as Cameron Broady went faster that Olympic champion Chad le Clos in the 100-metre butterfly after being inspired by fellow Scots Ross Murdoch and Dan Wallace.
Murdoch and Wallace’s success in the 200-metre breaststroke and 400-metre individual medley, allied to Hannah Miley’s gold in the women’s 400-metre individual medley, have given Scotland a great start after just two days on competition in the pool.
It was a more comfortable morning for the favourites in the men’s 100-metre freestyle as world champion James Magnussen eased into the semi-finals with the fastest time ahead of teammate Cameron McEvoy.
England’s Fran Halsall continued her fine start to the meet with another Commonwealth Games record of 25.64 sec as the defending champion cruised into the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly.
Meanwhile, 100m backstroke champion Chris Walker-Hebborn kept his impressive Games going by qualifying fastest for the semi-finals of the 50m backstroke.
And Australia comfortably qualified as the fastest team for the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay ahead of New Zealand and England respectively.
