Day 4 preview

ATHLETICS

The Athletics program kicks off at 7:00AM at the Currumbin Beachfront with the men’s walk, with our hopes spearheaded by Queenslander Dane Bird-Smith. The event is followed by the women’s walk where Claire Tallent and Beki Smith should maintain Australia’s strong tradition in this event. Competition switches to the stadium from 2:00PM with Matt Denny (hammer throw) and Erin Cleaver (T38 long jump) looking strong for podium finishes.

BASKETBALL – WOMEN

The Opals are back on court for their second match of the Games after dispatching Mozambique by an emphatic 60 points on Friday. Our Aussie girls will take on the second seed Canada, who also impressed in their last matchup as they downed England by 26 points. With just one rank between the two teams in the FIBA world rankings, the Opals will find out where they stand in the overall competition.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Australia should be untroubled winning their two games on day four of the Games. The women line up against Scotland and the men against St Kitts and Nevis.

BOXING

Tomorrow welterweight Kaye Scott – one of Australia’s most experiences boxers, having competed internationally for more than seven years – will take on Nigeria’s Hunu Oriola in the women’s 69 kilogram category. Scott narrowly missed out on a medal at the Glasgow Games in 2014, but has improved ten-fold over the last four years, becoming Australia’s most successful amateur boxer at a World Championships when she claimed silver at last year’s competition. Scott is one of Australia’s most promising medal hopes.

Following Scott’s bout, Australian Campbell Somerville will compete in his second bout against India’s Vikas Krishnan in the 75kg category. Undefeated so far, Somerville will need to take down Krishnan, who is a world championship bronze medallist.

In the evening, gold medal prospect Liam Wilson will take on John Ume from Papua New Guinea in the 64kg category. At 21, Wilson is already a five-time Australian champion, nine-time Queensland champion and six-time Australian Golden Gloves winner.

CYCLING TRACK

More gold medals are on offer on the final day of Track Cycling competition at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games:

• Australia’s Track queen Steph Morton will contest the women’s Keirin, along with Kaarle McCulloch – both will be looking to add to their already impressive Commonwealth medal haul.
• Matthew Glaetzer will finish his heavy Commonwealth campaign with the 1000m Time Trial, an event in which he became the first rider to record a sub-one minute ride at sea level. Nathan Hart and Patrick Constable will also contest the Time Trial on the final day.
• Triple Delhi 2010 gold medallist Cameron Meyer, who returns fresh from claiming the Points Race world crown last month, his ninth career rainbow jersey, will be a favourite in the men’s 40km Points Race.

HOCKEY – MEN

The Kookaburras will face Scotland in their second pool game on day four of competition. Scotland is a team that has real bite to its attack as it showed when it won the EuroHockey Championship II, beating Wales in the final.

LAWN BOWLS

The nation will contest two semis tomorrow morning from 9.00am, in the men’s triples and women’s fours, both against Canadian opponents.

NETBALL

The Diamonds play one of their toughest opposition in their pool, fifth ranked South Africa. It will be a good test before the final pool game against Jamaica.

SHOOTING

Eight Aussies will kick off the action on day one of the GC2018 shooting competition; Elena Galiabovitch and Lalita Yauhleuskaya will be two to keep an eye on during the women’s 10m Air Pistol event; Aislin Jones will contest the women’s Skeet alongside Laura Coles, who will be hoping to successfully defend her Commonwealth title in front of a home crowd. Two-time Olympian Dane Sampson and newcomer Alex Hoberg will compete in the men’s 10m Air Rifle; and World Cup medallist Paul Adams and his teammate James Bolding will also be in action in the men’s Skeet event.

SWIMMING

The blue ribbon event in the pool, men’s 100m Freestyle, shapes up as a strong event for Australia, spearheaded by Kyle Chalmers, Jack Cartwright and Cam McEvoy. Some of these guys will backup a little over two hours later in the 4x200m Freestyle, an event Australia has only lost once in the last 64 years. Three Aussies Ellie Cole, Emily Beecroft and Lakeisha Patterson have strong credentials to win the Para S9 100m Freestyle.

TABLE TENNIS

Gold Coast 2018’s first Table Tennis medal is up for grabs tomorrow, with Australia’s women’s team aiming to defend their Glasgow bronze or step up higher on the podium. The women’s team will first compete in their semifinal at 9:30AM, and will then go on to either the bronze or gold medal matches in the evening.

WEIGHTLIFTING
After medals in the past two days of the Weightlifting, Australia will be hoping to make it three days in a row on day four of competition. Two of the team’s nine first-timers and a fourth-time Commonwealth Games representative will be lifting. The action begins with one of the debutants Pip Malone from Newcastle lifting in the 69 kilogram class. On her previous overall totals she sits fourth, with 13 competitors taking part, so similar performances tomorrow could put her in contention for a podium finish.

The afternoon session should have seen Simplice Ribouem in his fourth Commonwealth Games participate in the 94kg class – but was forced to withdraw after aggravating a knee injury. The night action has Steph Davies in the 75kg weight division. A relative late starter to the sport just over 12 months ago, the 28-year-old has been producing personal bests (PB) in training after producing a PB of 6kg with her final lift to gain a birth for the Gold Coast.