McIlroy begins singles campaign in style

Shannon McIlroy got his Commonwealth Games singles campaign off to the best possible start today with two wins.

In his first match, McIlroy, 31, was in devastating form against Andrew Newell of Jamaica and won 21-0, a rare whitewash in bowls.

Late in the day he had to work harder before edging out Arun Kumar of Fiji 21-15.

McIlroy, a veteran of the Glasgow and Delhi Commonwealth Games and the 2016 world singles champion, looked sharp today, perhaps benefiting from the games he has just finished playing in the pairs competition.

The New Zealand women’s triple also had two wins today. Tayla Bruce, Katelyn Inch and Mandy Boyd beat Zambia 24-12 and Namibia 22-15, which gives them three wins for the tournament.

Fresh from her gold medal effort in the women's singles, Jo Edwards teamed with Val Smith to score a narrow 17-16 first-up win over Fiji in the women's pairs, though the New Zealanders never trailed.

The New Zealand mixed B2/B3 pair  of David Stallard, Peter Blick, Sue Curran and Ann Muir beat England 16-13, but still finished with a two win-three loss record.

The men’s four of Mike Nagy, Blake Signal, Paul Girdler and Ali Forsyth began their series with a 21-4 win over the Cook Islands, but the news wasn’t so good for Bruce Wakefield, Barry Wynks and Mark Noble in the Open B6/B7/B8 triples – they went down 16-11 to Fiji.  However, the triple still progress to the semi-finals and will meet England on April 11.