Ullapool’s Malin Wilson produced an epic display to clinch bronze at her first Commonwealth Games on Monday.
Competing in the women’s 57kg category, the 27-year-old defeated Kamini Sri Segaran from Malaysia to reach the quarter-finals.
Despite losing that contest against England’s Acelya Toprak, her repechage victory over New Zealand’s Qona Christie gave her a bronze-medal chance against Lele Nairne, of England, on Monday night.
It's a BRONZE for Malin Wilson!!🥉
Fantastic debut performance 👏👏 #TeamScot #TimeForHeroes pic.twitter.com/ptCPEZ3vyR
— Team Scotland (@Team_Scotland) August 1, 2022
And what a contest it was, as it went all the way to a golden score, with one judoka taking control before their opponent responded.
However, it was the gutsy Wilson, who recovered from a cruciate ligament injury last year, who clinched the win to medal.
This superb success for now Madrid-based Wilson comes hot on the heels of winning a bronze at the recent European Cup in Winterthur.
FINAL BLOCK RESULT: It's a Bronze for Malin Wilson in the -57kg category as she beats Lele Nairne of England in Golden Score! #TeamScotland #Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/LxQDF77pzH
— JudoScotland (@JudoScotland) August 1, 2022
Lewis’ Hanlon into 100m breaststroke final
Meanwhile, Isle of Lewis swimmer Kara Hanlon made it through to Tuesday’s women’s 100m breaststroke final, having also made it through to the 50m final earlier in the Games.
The 25-year-old from Stornoway, who finished eighth in the 50m, missed out narrowly in competing for Team Scotland at both Glasgow 2014 and the Gold Coast four years ago – so she was determined to make her mark this time.
Monday began with Hanlon posting a terrific 100m breaststroke heat time of 1:07.99, which earned her third behind South African Lara van Niekerk (1:06:40) and England’s Molly Renshaw (1:07.54).
Competing in the evening’s second semi-final line-up, Hanlon swam 1:08.08 to finish behind Van Nierkerk (1:05.96), Australia’s Jenna Strauch (1:07.30) and Renshaw (1:07.42) to make it through to the medal race as the eighth-fastest qualifier overall.
The final is scheduled for 7.07pm on Tuesday.
No final showdown for Beeley
There was to be no medal race progression for Banchory swimmer Tom Beeley as he missed out on qualifying for the men’s 100m butterfly final.
Beeley, 23, was a late call-up to the Team Scotland squad and his lifetime best time of 54.15 in heat seven of the competition early on Monday placed him seventh, with sixth-placed Bryan Xin Ren Leong, of Malaysia, finishing in 53.94 to earn the final semi berth from that heat.
However, Beeley made it through to the semi-finals as a reserve in the end, where he finished eighth – again swimming 54.15 to match his PB from the morning session.
Beeley had contested the 200m fly heats earlier in the Games.
Lobban loses in bid to make semis
Greg Lobban’s bid to reach the squash semi-finals came to an end as he lost 3-1 against Indian opponent Saurav Ghosal in the quarter-finals at the University of Birmingham.
The North Kessock ace, who defeated Malaysia’s Chee Wern Yuen to reach the last-eight stage, lost the first game 11-5, but struck back with an 11-8 scoreline to level the match.
However, his opponent posted scores of 11-7 and 11-3 in the next two games to record a 3-1 win and line up a Tuesday semi against Paul Coll from New Zealand.
Lobban is set to compete in the mixed doubles, which reach their climax on Sunday.
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