August 1, 2014, by Dan Tilley
Commonwealths – Days 7 & 8
Wednesday 30 July
In the high jump qualifiers, Biosciences student Isobel Pooley (pictured right) cleared 1.76 metres, 1.81 and 1.85 at the first attempt to qualify for Friday’s final. She will be the only English athlete in the final and if she can reproduce her season’s best jump of 1.91 she should put herself into medal contention.
In the table tennis mixed doubles, Chemical Engineering student Paul McCreery with his partner Lynch-Dawson lost 3-0 in a second round tie with welsh pair Jenkins and Owen.
Then in the Men’s doubles second round, Paul and his partner Robinson beat new Zealand’s Cordue & Jackson 3-1 setting up a third round tie with India’s Desai & Ghosh. Despite winning the first game, the Irish pair couldn’t maintain their form and lost 3-1, missing out on a quarter final berth.
In the squash, French & German graduate Emma Beddoes and her partner Alison Waters topped their pool winning each game 2-0 and securing a quarter final place.
Thursday 31 July
In the men’s hockey, England had to beat Canada to guarantee a semi final place. The team had a comfortable 3-1 victory and will now face favourites Australia on Saturday to play for a place in the final. Highlights of the game are available on the BBC Sport website.
Emma Beddoes’ success in the women’s doubles squash set up a quarter final draw with Malaysia’s world number 1 Nicol David and her partner Low. Beddoes and Waters produced a fantastic performance winning 2-0 (11-10 and 11-8). Unfortunately the victory sets up an all England tie against team mates Maasaro and Duncalf.
Having navigated the preliminaries, Paul McCreery had a resounding victory against Scotland’s Sean Doherty 4-0. His reward for the victory was a second round draw against England’s no.1 and medal contender Liam Pitchford. Unfortunately the tables were turned and Paul went down 4-0.
The University’s National Badminton League players were also in action with Kieran Merrilees beating Kenya’s Mungak and Ireland’s Murphy 2-0 in the men’s singles to set up a mouth-watering quarter final tie with English no1 Rajev Ouseph.
Meanwhile Scotland’s Robert Blair has progressed through to the mixed doubles and men’s doubles quarter finals which sees fixtures against Canada and Singapore respectively. Likewise England’s Chris Adcock is also still going in the mixed and men’s doubles and will play Singapore and Wales respectively.
Ones to watch on Friday 1 and Saturday 2 August
Emma Beddoes plays in the women’s doubles squash semi-finals at 2pm, and Isobel Pooley competes in the high jump final at 6pm.
The men’s hockey semi-final against Australia is scheduled for 10am on Saturday. Watch out for Nottingham graduates Nick Catlin and George Pinner and Economics student Harry Martin, who are all in the England squad.
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