The second edition of the European Games in Minsk, Belarus, got underway at the weekend with the first Team England  athletes taking part in the opening days of competition.

Boxing

Ben Whittaker and Pat McCormack both put in faultless displays to win their opening bouts of the games 5-0 and advance through to the preliminary 1/16 stage.

The will be joined by heavyweight boxer Cheavon Clarke, the only other Team England boxer to feature in the games until this point, who also overcame his Estonian opponent 5-0 to reach the quarter-final stages.

Peter McGrail, Galal Yafai and Frazer Clarke all take to the ring for their opening fights of the games this afternoon.

 

Table Tennis

There was disappointment amongst Team England’s table tennis ranks with Sam Walker, Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho all facing an early exit from the men’s and women’s singles events.

Having won his opening tie of the games 4-3, Walker couldn’t repeat his success in round three, eventually coming unstuck in a narrow 4-3 loss.

Similarly, after receiving a second round bye, Liam Pitchford also exited in the third round with a 4-1 loss to Panagiotis Gionis of Greece, as Ho lost 4-0 in her second round tie.


Road Cycling

The Commonwealth bronze medallist from Glasgow 2014, Scott Thwaites, finished among the top 10 in a hotly contested men’s road race.

Unable to add to his medal collection, Thwaites crossed the line in 7th place, 41 seconds behind the winning Italian rider.