Commonwealth Games round-up

Australia seem to be blowing everyone else out of the water today. Hockey, netball, they're winning everything. And that's before Thorpedo swims into action, too.

Women's hockey:
Defending champions Australia broke their own Commonwealth Games record with an 18-0 demolition of Malaysia's women on the way to confirming their automatic place in the semi-finals.

The Hockeyroos demonstrated why they are the best in the world by eclipsing their previous record of 15-1 against Namibia at the last Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

However, they fell short of beating the world record of 23-0, which was set by England when they beat France in 1923.

But defender Louise Dobson, who netted a hat-trick of penalty corners, claimed they should have done better.

"I know the scoreline shows we have done very well but we still need to build on things," she said. "In games like these, when the opposition is not as strong, you can get in bad habits."

Meanwhile, despite a superb performance from Scotland goalkeeper Tracey Robb, South Africa beat them 4-1 today in the sticky heat at Belle Vue.

Rhona Simpson, a Great Britain team-mate of Robb, put the Scots ahead in the ninth minute before second-half goals from Pietie Coetzee (two), Johke Koornhof and Jennifer Wilson turned the game around.

The result meant Scotland finished third, behind defending champions Australia and the Springboks, but they are still in with a chance of making the semi-finals after a cross-over match with the as-yet-undecided second-placed team in Pool Two.

Women's squash:
England's Stephanie Brind gave world number one Sarah Fitz-Gerald a useful workout but could not prevent the Australian from moving into the semi-finals. Sixth seed Brind, from Kent, took Fitz-Gerald the distance in the opening game but her opponent then moved through the gears to complete a 10-8 9-3 9-1 victory at Manchester's National Squash Centre. Brind's expectations were realistic against the game's dominant player and the 25-year-old admitted she ultimately had no answer to Fitz-Gerald's class.

"My aim was to win one game, and if I got that then hopefully two or three," said Brind. As Homer Simpson once said: "Aim low and you can never be disappointed."

Netball:
Australia lived up to their billing as number one seeds in the netball tournament by romping to a 74-38 win over South Africa. The Australians, gold medallists as netball made its Commonwealth Games debut in Kuala Lumpar four years ago, now top Group B with three wins out of three.

After a steady start, Australia blew the Proteas away with 15 unanswered points either side of half-time.

Catherine Cox continued her excellent run of form, scoring 39 goals from 50 attempts as the Australians ran riot in the second and third quarters.

The win means Australia are all but guaranteed an automatic semi-final spot with South Africa needing to win an extra qualification game to make the last four.

Men's cycling:
Liam Killeen won Commonwealth bronze for England today in the men's mountain biking at Rivington Peak.

The London-born 20-year-old, who lives in Malvern, Worcestershire, came in third behind an all-Canadian top two of Roland Green and Seamus McGrath.

Green, the reigning world champion, showed his class to win a personal duel with his compatriot that he never looked like losing. The two swapped the lead in each lap before Green exerted himself to open up a significant lead on the sixth and final circuit of the 6.9km course.

Women's cycling:
Britain's women mountain bikers were rattled in Snake-Bite Alley today (geddit?) as three of the home contenders suffered punctures. Caroline Alexander of Scotland, the pre-race favourite, was forced out in the first lap after establishing a commanding lead. The English duo of Sue Thomas, who had been in the silver medal position, and Jenny Copnall were able to continue but the flats effectively ended their challenge.

Gold-medallist Chrissy Redden of Canada led the rest of the race after overtaking Alexander while New Zealand's Susy Pryde finished just 16 seconds back for silver and Australia's Mary Grigson claimed bronze.

Badminton:
Top seeds England took a firm grip on their mixed team semi-final with Scotland at the Bolton Arena this afternoon.

In front of another capacity crowd, including the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the home team took the women's and men's singles to leave them needing just one of the final three matches to grab a place against either New Zealand or Singapore in tomorrow's final.

Boxing:
David Haye was branded "naive" by England's head boxing coach for the manner of his withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games today.

Ian Irwin says he was left in the dark about the heavyweight favourite's bicep injury and was "flabbergasted" when he discovered that he was going to pull out. Irwin said: "I only found out his decision yesterday. It was not the best way to handle the situation but elite athletes don't always do what you want them to do."

Team England announced Haye's decision this morning and issued a statement in which the 21-year-old said: "I am very upset about this. Commonwealth gold was a big ambition for me and now it won't happen. I'm going to concentrate on getting my arm back in shape to start training again as soon as I can."

Shooting:
Richard Brickell and Drew Harvey won England's first shooting medal of the day at Bisley when they took bronze in the men's skeet pairs.

They were placed third on countback after tying with Australian silver medallist George Barton and David Cunningham, on 188 points.

The gold went to Cyprus, on 194, as Christos Kourtellas and Antonis Nicolaides secured their country's first medal of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Brickell said: "I'm disappointed with the way it happened. It's always disappointing when you miss out on countback. It's a pity they don't have a shoot-off in the pairs like they do in the individuals."

Earlier England's Susan Bramley, from Doveridge, Derbyshire, and Pinky le Grelle, from Bodmin, Cornwall finished second in the women's skeet pairs but failed to be awarded a medal as only three teams took part.

The only medal on offer was gold which went to Australia's Lauryn Ogilvie and Natalia Rahman.

Gymnastics:
Kanukai Jackson took his third medal of the Commonwealth Games with silver in the pommel horse final.

The Londoner yesterday won the men's individual all-round event to go with the gold he picked up in Friday's team event. But the 24-year-old, who is competing in all six men's apparatus final, was just edged out by overall silver medallist Philippe Rizzo of Australia, who scored 9.162 points compared to Jackson's 9.087.

England's Ross Brewer had also been a favourite for gold after qualifying first for the event from the team final.

However the Woking gymnast came off the horse midway through his routine and could only finish fifth.