Commonwealth Games: Gold Coast a far cry from Porty for beach volleyballers

Scotland’s beach volleyballers dub themselves ‘Amadans’ – a Gaelic expression meaning ‘fools’.

But they proved far from idiotic as they beat Sri Lankan pair Asanka Pradeep and Sashimal Yappa 16-14 as the sport made its Commonwealth Games debut on the Sunshine Coast. “There have been plenty of times on Portobello when the wind takes the game away from you but nothing prepared us for the ‘Beast from the East,” admitted Robin. “We were training at the barn in the early morning and we were digging the cars out of the snow just to get along the road. The farmer used his tractor to help us. But we got to that barn and we trained and here we are.” There was also a win for Lynne Beattie and Mel Coutts, who beat Thornia Williams and Renisha Stafford from Grenada in their first preliminary match.

She said: “It’s absolutely amazing. You can prepare anything you’d like, but nothing compares to coming out in front of such a great crowd, and we had great Scottish support that made it even better.”

Elsewhere, Edinburgh badminton players Martin Campbell and Julie MacPherson were part of the Scotland side which lost 5-0 to India in the mixed team event. In bowls, Tranent’s Alex Marshall maintained his 100 per cent record in the pairs with Paul Foster, beating India 17-12 and Norfolk Ireland 14-12. Lothians stars Ronnie Duncan and Derek Oliver continued as part of the men’s triple, drawing 17-17 with Malaysia and beating Norfolk Island 20-11. Midlothian’s Stacey McDougall and her women’s fours team-mates beat Wales 22-10.

In squash, Oriam-based Alan Clyne won his last-16 clash 3-0 against Australia’s Rex Hedrick. Scotland team-mate Greg Lobban lost 3-1 to England’s Daryl Selby at the same stage.

In table tennis, Craig Howieson’s men’s team lost 3-0 to Australia in Group 5.

And Scotland’s women’s hockey team drew 0-0 with Canada in their second group match.