All eyes were cast on the boxing ring on the penultimate day of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, with Team England reigning supreme with a mouth-watering total haul of 24 medals.
Super Saturday saw Team England’s athletes deliver a total of eleven gold medals, with six of these coming from the ring.
Day 10 saw the final bouts in the boxing category, where England had a wealth of guaranteed medallists, and they all certainly delivered on the big stage.
Lisa Whiteside got the party started in the early hours of the morning as she powered to victory to clinch the first gold of the day in the women’s 51kg category.
Galal Yafai was England’s first medallist in the men’s boxing, as he breezed by his opponent at a canter – and the Birmingham-born brawler was joined in the medals by Sandy Ryan, Peter McGrail, Pat McCormack and Frazer Clarke in the men’s 69kg and the men’s 56kg, 69kg and 91+kg, respectively. Paige Murney lost her final bout in the women’s 60kg event but walked away with a silver to round off a splendid day in the ring.
The men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams secured back-to-back victories as they beat their respective opponents, most notably the Jamaican’s in both races, to claim a well-deserved double gold.
The women’s team, led by bronze medallist Dina Asher-Smith, stormed to a national best time of 42.46 seconds – courtesy of two fantastic bend sprints by Bianca Williams and Asha Philip, and a phenomenal home sprint from Lorraine Ugen, who also competed in the long jump.
Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall held off their Indian counterparts to rally from two sets to one behind to take a resounding victory, thus claiming England’s first gold in the table tennis in Australia.
David Luckman doubled his gold medal tally at the Gold Coast with a professional display in the Queen’s Prize Individual shooting while setting a Games record, with his Pairs partner Parag Patel nabbing the bronze.
Aaron Heading took silver in the men’s trap shooting final and Dean Bale clinched bronze to cap off yet another strong day at the Belmont Shooting Centre.
The women’s basketball team put up a strong fight and were within a hair’s length from taking the lead in the first quarter but ultimately lost out to take the silver, not a bad showing for England’s first ever women’s basketball final!
Ross Wilson and Kim Daybell were guaranteed a Team England one-two finish in the table tennis TT6-10 final, but it was just a matter of who would stand higher on the podium out of the two roommates. On this occasion, Wilson prevailed with a 3-1 victory in a very even match.
Matthew Dixon, who claimed silver along with fellow competitor Noah Williams in the 10m synchronised final, pushed favourite Dominic Bedggood until the final dive, ultimately missing out on yet another gold by just 1.6 points and taking the silver in the 10m platform.
Morgan Lake took a magnificent silver in the high jump, pushing eventual victor Levern Spencer until the very end, but unfortunately the 20-year-old failed to clear 1.97m on her final attempt.
The men and women’s hockey teams both emerged victorious in their respective bronze medal matches, while Rajiv Ouseph, Laura Weightman and Syreus Eslami all secured bronze in the men’s badminton singles, women’s 5000m and the men’s 86kg wrestling, respectively.