Falklands : FIRS COMMONWEALTH GAMES REPORT
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 09.10.2010 (Article Archived on 23.10.2010)
The Falkland Islands team at the Commonwealth Games have secured another win. Following their victory earlier this week against Samoa, the Falklands’ lawn bowlers won another match today.
FIRS COMMONWEALTH GAMES REPORT
A Report for FIRS by Stacey Bragger (SB) 07/10/10
The Falkland Islands team at the Commonwealth Games have secured another win. Following their victory earlier this week against Samoa, the Falklands’ lawn bowlers won another match today. Team manager, Mike Summers (MS) reports on today’s action starting with how the lawn bowlers performed against Namibia.
MS: They didn’t do so well against Namibia. Namibia probably had their best game of the tournament in getting the ball right into the jack and they beat the Falklands quite comfortably 2-0. Later that evening the Falklands played New Zealand and again lost 2-0 without really competing that strongly. I don’t think George was feeling too good yesterday. Gerald played fairly well, I have to say. He looked really steady but George was a bit off form. They started off this morning again against Malaysia and got completely routed – big scores rattled up by Malaysia and they were nowhere near it but this afternoon they played Guernsey and they won again. It was a fantastic turn-around from the morning to the afternoon. Guernsey was a very good side with very good bowling and have done very well so far in these games. And Gerald and George beat then 11-10 in the first set and drew the second set 8 – all so won the match by virtue of that one point in the first set. The brilliant result probably keeps them still in the bottom half of the table but certainly well off the bottom. We are really chuffed about that.
SB: And was it pleasing that they didn’t get down-hearted and despite defeat went on to get that next win?
MS: I am always smiling. They so enjoy their bowls and just enjoy every game as it comes and sometimes they are on and sometimes they are off and they are enjoying it. I don’t think they get nervous at all, to be honest with you. They have nearly 140 years between them and they have been around a long time and they just go out and play to their fuller ability and we are just so chuffed that they were able to win another game against a good side. To beat Guernsey – that’s a real achievement.
SB: Has anyone else been in action today? Shooters are in action today. Nevan and Murray are shooting 10m pistol pares but I haven’t been able to get to the range and the manager has her phone switched off so I can’t tell you how they are getting on. It actually not be such a bad day for shooting pistol but I can’t tell you what the scores are at the moment because they are not in touch. As soon as we know, we will let you know what happened there.
Badminton had a day off and the shot gun shooters start shooting tomorrow.
(100X Transcription Service)
FIRS has provided FINN with a transcript of events at the Commonwealth Games. Photos and other items requested have for one reason or another not been delivered to FINN.
Monday:
MS: Well we’ve started today with badminton and lawn bowls. The shooters are still practising and practising very hard. The badminton players played England this morning so that’s a pretty daunting start for them and actually they did remarkably well. Their coach set them a target of 21 points from the match and they actually scored 44 so that was remarkably good and the coach had to do a lot of forfeits for that so that’s an excellent result. They’re playing Mauritius this evening and I think they’ll probably fancy their chances against them. England are of course one of the very top seeds.
SB: How’s the mood within the team?
MS: The mood within the team is good. Everyone is really pleased with their practice. Conditions are rather hot outside and the lawn bowlers are of course outside. They’re finding it rather hot but the mood is great within the camp. The guys are happy and comfortable in their accommodation. The transport is working pretty well. The food is excellent here, absolutely top class. Everyone’s feeling pretty good. The lawn bowlers are out this evening. They’re playing Malta in the first of their pairs games. That’s followed tomorrow by a game against England and Samoa just after midday.
SB: How was the opening ceremony?
MS: The opening ceremony was spectacular. It was well organised in the end despite some misgivings. There was a rather long trek through a very, very hot corridor which wasn’t very comfortable but once we got in the whole stadium was vast. There were thousands of performers as you would expect in India and it was just one of those huge, noisy, very colourful and also very imaginative shows that they put on. It lasted about 2 and a half / 3 hours which was perhaps a bit long but it was one of those spectacular occasions and I hope you managed to catch a bit of it on television there.
SB: Have people taken an interest in the Falklands as we’re one of the smaller nations? There seems to have been quite a few articles on our lawn bowlers.
MS: They have. The lawn bowlers have probably done more interviews than anyone else. It’s an interesting little story that the Scots have a very, very well known bowler called Willy Woods who’s been playing for donkeys years and he’s 73 and they thought they would have the oldest bowler in the competition. But in fact he’s 2 months younger than Gerald so we’ve pipped the Scots already at something. I think there’s a fair chance that Gerald is the oldest competitor in the whole games but we haven’t actually established that yet. So that’s caused a lot of interest but the Falklands has generally raised interest as it often does, quite a lot of interest. Everyone’s been going round and chatting and being good ambassadors as our sportsmen always do. And people are kind and friendly and take interest and it’s just good to chat to these people.
SB: I believe the Falklands team managed to meet Prince Charles. What happened there?
MS: Yes we did, all the British islands were invited to meet Charles and Camilla on his tour of the village. We were allowed to take two people so I took Doug Clark and Gareth Goodwin along with me and we had a brief chat with Charles. He did remember having met in the Falklands all those years ago and had a good chat to Gareth about shooting; he’s very knowledgeable about that. Prince Edward is also here and he came and sat at the table with several members of the Falklands squad and had a chat with them for a few minutes so that was great.
Tuesday:
MS: Yesterday the lawn bowlers didn’t win. They had quite a tough game against Malta. On the subject of lawn bowls, they’ve had a magnificent day today. They played England in the morning and of course that was a difficult game and they didn’t expect to win but this afternoon they played Samoa and they won which is a fantastic, fantastic thing for us and our team to have someone win a match. The game went level and they had to play a play-off end. The Samoan skip put down his last bowl close to the jack and George Paice knocked it off and won so they had a fabulous win today, it’s really exciting for the team. We’ve had badminton as well today. The badminton team have been playing in the mixed competition against Uganda. We had a very good performance in the first game. Doug and Anna lost fairly narrowly – 21-15, 21-16. in the men’s singles, Mike Brownlee struggled a little bit, he lost 6 and 7 and so did Sonia in the women’s singles but in the men’s doubles Doug and Mike actually won the first set 21, 17. Again a fantastic performance, the first time our badminton players have won a set at the Commonwealth Games. They lost the next two fairly narrowly, 15 and 16 but they came quite close to winning our first match at the Commonwealth Games so we’ve had a great day really.
Wednesday:
This morning the badminton team had their last game in the team competition. They played Canada which was always going to be a very difficult game. In the men’s singles, Mike put up quite a good performance and he lost 21-8, 21-11, but a very good competitive game with lots of good rallies. Laura had a difficult time in the singles against a very powerful opponent and Mike and Doug didn’t perform as well as they have done perhaps in the past in the doubles, losing 5 and 7. in the ladies doubles, Sonia and Laura had quite a difficult time against some quite powerful ladies and that’s really what I think they’re finding in these events here, that they’re not as powerful as some of their opponents and that’s proving troublesome but in the mixed doubles, Doug and Anna put up a very creditable performance against very strong Canadian opposition. They lost 21-7, 21-10. The Canadians did comment on the skill and ability of the team and I think they’ve acquitted themselves quite well in this team competition.
SB: There have been reports today that a member of the Falklands team was taken into hospital after contracting dengue fever. Was that the case?
MS: No Stacy, we don’t know where that came from or what the origin of that report was but all the members of our team are fine and in good health. Gareth had a touch of sun stroke last night but he went off on his visit to the Taj Mahal this morning as expected and we’re all fine thanks.
Stacy Bragger
News Editor
Falkland Islands Radio Service
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