July 27, 2014

Press Association

Laura Trott, Siobhan-Marie O'Connor and Fran Halsall helped make it another golden day for England on day four of the Commonwealth Games, while 13-year-old Scot Erraid Davies melted hearts at the Tollcross pool as she and her hero, Hannah Miley, both claimed bronze.

Double Olympic champion cyclist Trott defied a kidney infection to claim gold in thrilling fashion, pipping Wales' Elinor Barker in a photo finish to win the women's points race at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Trott has been off colour since arriving in Glasgow, with her illness contributing to two unusually tame outings in the individual pursuit and scratch race.

But she roared back with an irrepressible ride in her final track outing of the Games, clinching top spot on the podium with a brilliant sprint in the last of 10 scoring laps.

''I've had such a bad week of it with the kidney infection. I was devastated," Trott said.

''It really set me back and knocked my morale a bit. I hardly ate anything for two days. I've been living off porridge and I don't like porridge.

''To come away from all that and win is just unbelievable."

Scotland's Katie Archibald was involved in a dramatic finish of her own, winning the final sprint to claim bronze ahead of Australian world champion Amy Cure.

England's medal count was completed by a second bronze of the week for Jess Varnish in the women's sprint.

At Tollcross, O'Connor and Halsall added to their impressive medal hauls with golds on another memorable night of action.

O'Connor claimed her fifth medal Glasgow 2014 - and her first gold - by storming home in the 200 metres individual medley and Halsall later set a new Games record as she took gold in the 50m butterfly final.

The hosts were also savouring success as Davies - at 13, Scotland's youngest-ever Commonwealth Games competitor - roared to a podium finish in the para-sport 100m breaststroke SB9 final.

Miley finished behind O'Connor to add the bronze to her gold in the 400m individual medley, and the Scots almost saved the best until last when their men's 4x200m freestyle relay team pushed hot favourites Australia all the way before claiming a silver amid deafening cheers.

England also had a bronze to celebrate courtesy of world-record holder Liam Tancock in the 50m backstroke.

Sprinter Adam Gemili demonstrated his athletics medal credentials in the 100m by breezing into the semi-finals as the fastest qualifier in 10.15 seconds as action got under way at Hampden Park.

The 20-year-old's team-mates Richard Kilty (10.34) and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (10.33) also advanced to Monday's semis, but looked less impressive.

Steve Scott and Charlotte Kerwood led the way as England claimed four of the six medals on offer on Sunday on the shotgun range.

With Olympic champion Peter Wilson absent from the Games, England's hopes of success in the men's double trap lay with Scott and Matthew French. And the pair did not disappoint, ensuring an English one-two when they saw off India's Asab Mohd in a shoot-off to reach the gold-medal match.

Rachel Parish completed England's bumper medal haul when she took bronze behind Kerwood.

England earned a shot at badminton gold as they reached the final of the team event with a hard-fought 3-0 win over India. They will face Malaysia in the gold-medal match.

Torquay's Natalie Melmore failed to defend her title in the lawn bowls singles as she was beaten 21-15 by Jo Edwards.

Melmore's loss was a second blow of the day for the English bowlers after their men's pair were pipped by Scotland in a thrilling semi-final. Alex Marshall hailed his final shots as the best he had ever played as the Scots prevailed 16-15.

Three-time former world squash champion Nick Matthew moved one step away from retaining his gold medal by powering past England team-mate Peter Barker at Scotstoun to reach the singles final, where he will face another Englishman - James Willstrop.

Malaysian world number one Nicol David will face England's Laura Massaro in the women's final.

England will go for gold in the table tennis team event after beating India 3-1 in their semi-final at Scotstoun.

Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall both won their opening singles matches to put England in control and then, after doubles defeat for Andy Baggaley and Drinkhall, another singles triumph for Pitchford clinched a final date with Singapore.

England's Jack Oliver narrowly missed out on a medal as he finished fourth in the men's 77kg weightlifting on Sunday evening. Earlier at the Clyde Auditorium, England's Emily Godley and Sarah Davies finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the women's 63kg category, with Scotland's Georgina Black ninth.

British hopes for a rugby sevens medal were brutally snuffed out at Ibrox as each of the participating home nations lost in the quarter-finals.

Wales led Australia all the way to the death before losing 21-19, England lost 15-14 to Samoa and the hosts were turned over 35-12 by South Africa.

Scotland's women were thrashed 9-0 by Australia in the preliminary rounds of the hockey, while England fared better in beating Malaysia 5-0. In the men's event, England beat Malaysia 8-1.

At the netball, Scotland were beaten 68-26 by Jamaica's Reggae Girlz, and Northern Ireland went down 78-29 to New Zealand, but England edged South Africa 41-35.

Read the original article at the Daily Mail website.