Commonwealth Games Day 2
By Nigel Ringland in Delhi
There were mixed fortunes for Northern Ireland’s athletes on the second day of competition in Delhi.
On the track Sports Institute of Northern Ireland cyclist Martyn Irvine took a very good sixth place in the 4000m individual pursuit.
In the pool there were four more semi-finalists for Northern Ireland with Olympians and SINI athlete Melanie Nocher and Andrew Bree leading the way.
Nocher set her second personal best of the week and a new Ulster record in the 100m backstroke of 1:02.60 finishing 13th overall just ahead of team mate Chelsey Wilson (1:04.60).
“I wasn’t expecting that, I haven’t broken 1:03 since they changed the suits so I mean it’s a great swim especially since I wasn’t feeling well in the morning,” said Nocher who can now look forward with confidence to her best event, the 200m backstroke on Friday.
Bree set a season’s best time (1:02.91) in his weaker event – 100m breaststroke – which also bodes well for the longer distance in which he’s finished fifth in the last two Games.
Bree admitted, “I’m pretty happy with that, just getting that high stroke rate, I’m a tall guy, is difficult in the 100m. The 200m is the big one and I’d take that time at the halfway point with fewer strokes.”
Bree was 12th with Michael Dawson in 16th place.
SINI athlete Conor Leaney was 19th in the 50m butterfly and 24th in the 200m freestyle.
Sports Institute Northern Ireland athlete Madeline Perry is one match away from guaranteeing herself a shot at a medal. She takes on tough Aussie Kasey Brown in the quarter-finals of the squash later on.
That’s the stage she reached four years ago in Melbourne but since then she is now ranked fourth and looked impressive in beating another Australian, Lisa Camilleri, in straight sets yesterday 11-4, 11-5, 11-5.
“I was pleased with my performance, I was moving well and hitting the ball well and I’m looking forward to the next round,” said Perry.
Brown recently beat Perry in the World Open in Egypt but the Banbridge women is determined to make sure that result doesn’t repeat itself.
She added, “I was actually pleased with the draw when I found out I could meet her again. I didn’t think I played very well against her in Egypt so I’m looking for a bit of revenge because I’ve beaten her in the past. I don’t feel any extra pressure. Seeded fourth I’m expected to play off for a medal so I’ll be able to cope just fine.”
A win would set up a potential semi-final against world number one Nicole David of Malaysia.
The boxing got underway in front of large and vociferous crowds at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium.
Lightweight PDC athlete Mark O'Hara from the Holy Trinity club, who is funded by Sport Northern Ireland, was the first of the team of nine in action and he beat Mikka Shonena of Namibia (6-3).
After the fight he said, "The first one is always tough and it was good to get it out of the way against a tough opponent. We've got a great team here and I don't see any reason why I can't go a long way in this competition."
Team captain and SINI athlete Eamonn O'Kane was the final local fighter in the ring on the first day of competition and he put up a good display to beat Sri Lanka’s Ranil Jayathilakage 5-0.
"I fight a New Zealander next and it will take a better performance than that to beat him," said O'Kane.
The men’s and women’s triples in the bowling both made successful starts to their respective campaigns by recording two wins each.
Multiple Commonwealth medalist and SINI athlete Neil Booth, Martin McHugh and Paul Daly had comfortable straight sets wins over Botswana and Jersey while the women’s trio of Sandra Bailie, Mandy Cunningham and Barbara Logue came from behind to beat the Niue Islanders in a tie-break and then hammered Namibia..
The medal hopes of women’s pair Donna McCloy and SINI athlete Jennifer Dowds received a blow with a loss to India that followed a superb win over Australia in the tie-break. They’ve now won two and lost two and need to get on a winning streak.
Northern Ireland’s only wrestler, Aghalee’s Mark Montgomery made his debut on the 96kg Greco-Roman discipline.
Mark who trains out of the Sport Northern Ireland Performer Development Centre in Lisburn lost against the home nation’s favourite Indian Kumar, who then reached the final and won gold which allowed Montgomery a second fight in the repechage which unfortunately he lost, ultimately finishing seventh.
Montgomery has the freestyle discipline to look forward to later in the week.
Meanwhile none of the seven archers progressed beyond the last sixteen stage of the competition.
The most disappointed was SINI athlete Mark Nesbitt who had high hopes of doing well especially after a sixth place finish in this year’s European Senior Championships.
He lost out to an opponent from Bangladesh in the recurve event, as did Karl Watson and Ian McGibbon.
