Women’s pursuit team to chase gold

The New Zealand women's pursuit cycling team was set to ride for gold this morning, after a strong performance in qualifying last night.

The Kiwi quartet of Ellesse Andrews, Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Emily Shearman clocked a time of 4min 18:43sec in their 4000m race against the clock, edging England by 1.4sec to take the second spot in the ride for gold.

They will need to go even better to win gold, as Australia set a Games record in going 3.8sec faster than the Kiwis.

Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather qualified fifth for the final of the women’s 400m indidual medley while fellow Kiwi Mya Rasmussen qualified sixth for the same competition.

The Black Ferns Sevens began their Commonwealth Games gold medal defence with a 45-7 win over Canada, but it was not all good news.

Star speedster Portia Woodman was forced off the field in the first half, limping off with what looked to be an ankle injury, having earlier scored the opening try.

Her absence did not slow down the defending champions though, with a double from Michaela Blyde and tries from Stacey Fluhler, Kelly Brazier, Risi Pouri-Lane and Alena Saili sealing a comfortable and impressive win.

The Black Sticks women’s hockey team thrashed a hapless Kenyan side 16-0.

Kenya, ranked 37th in the world, was no match for the eighth-ranked Black Sticks who led 9-0 at halftime and play Scotland today.

The Kiwi bowlers started day one with two wins a a loss.

In the women’s singles, Katelyn Inch worked hard to beat Singaporean Shermeen Lim 21-17.

The men’s triples team of Ali Forsyth, Andrew Kelly and Mike Galloway outplayed India 23-6 but, in the men’s para pairs, Mark Noble and Graham Skellern went down 17-7 to Australians Damien Delgado and Chris Flavel.