Men’s Triples bowl their way to the top

Friday 06 April 2018

Jersey is certainly making a name for themselves in the bowls event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, after the men’s triples team topped their group after a run of victories.

Not only did Jersey’s Derek Boswell, Ross Davis and Malcolm De Sousa cause major games upset when they beat number one seed Australia on home soil on the first day of competition, they’ve followed that success on day two.

In their third appearance in the games, Jersey gave Fiji a small glimpse of hope as they were the first to put a point on the scoreboard in the first end. But any hope was soon dashed for the Jersey opponents as Boswell, Davis and De Sousa pulled ahead with a 11-6 lead by the 11^th end. With skill, determination and experience, the men’s triple kept that wide gap for the rest of the match, eventually beating Fiji 20-10 by the 18^th end.

Their following match against Brunei was a bit more of a nail-biter, but the Jersey trio managed to keep up and finished with a 11-11 draw, putting them at the top of their group.

Pictured: Rachelle Flambard and Bonita Shurmer competing on the vault and bars in the Artistic Gymnastics event in 2018 Gold Coast Games. 

Sadly, the games haven’t been going as well for Jersey’s women in the bowls event. Rachel Macdonald has been knocked out of the group stage after she lost her singles match against Brunei’s Amaliah Matali 21-14, and then 11-21 to Laura Daniels from Wales. Macdonald will now compete in the pairs tournament with Jersey’s Christine Grimes from Monday.

Grimes, along with Doreen Moon, Joan Renouf and Eileen Vowden lost their four’s match against Norfolk Island 13-21, making it their third loss in the games. The four’s team will play against South Africa later today.

Pictured: Jersey swimmer Gemma Atherley finished 7th in her 100m backstroke heat.

Elsewhere, Swimmer Gemma Atherley was back in the pool, this time competing in the 100m backstroke. She finished 7^th in her heat with a time of 1:04.75, making her the 18^th fastest overall and setting a new island record. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to secure a place in the semi-finals later today, but she could be called up as she is sitting as second reserve.

The first subdivision of women’s qualifying/team finals is complete For Jersey, Bonita Shurmer scores an all-around total of 44.150 with teammate Rachelle Flambard scoring 41.750 pic.twitter.com/wyIIYHuH12

— British Gymnastics (@BritGymnastics) April 6, 2018

Also waiting patiently on news if they’ve made it to the next level are gymnasts Rachelle Flambard and Bonita Shurmer. They are waiting to hear if they’ve done enough to follow fellow Jersey gymnast Danial Lee into the finals. After their division, Shurmer was in 10^th place having scored a total of 44.150 points with Flambard just behind her in 15^th with a score of 41.750. They will find out later today if they’ve qualified to the next round.  

Photos: The Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey.