Guernsey bowls duo suffer first Glasgow 2026 loss

Alison Merrien and Rose Ogier’s hopes of making the knockout stages of the women’s pairs bowls at the 2026 Commonwealth Games have suffered a blow.

The Guernsey pair, who were unbeaten after three matches, lost heavily to Northern Ireland’s Chloe Wilson and Shauna O’Neill.

The Ulster duo have still yet to lose a game in Glasgow and top the group with two games to play as Guernsey drop to third – only the pool winners make the knockout stages.

Wilson and O’Neill were never behind in the match – they won the first set 4-1 before taking the second 8-1 having gone 5-0 up after three ends.

“We were expecting a tough game and that certainly was a tough game,” Merrien told BBC Guernsey.

“I think we were both disappointed in our play. I felt we could have done better, but the rink wasn’t allowing us to play better.

“It’s one of those rinks, unfortunately, when you’re playing the rink and you’re not playing your opposition.

“I think they both struggled as well and it’s frustrating because you know you could both play good games, but it just wasn’t letting you do it today.”

The pair must beat Singapore on Sunday evening and Niue Island on Monday – and hope Northern Ireland lose matches – if they are to make the knockout stages.

Tatiana Tostevin is competing in her third Commonwealth Games [BBC]

Meanwhile Guernsey’s swimmers missed out on the chance to make any finals on Sunday morning.

Three islanders were in the same heat in the women’s 100m freestyle.

Orla Rabey came second in 58.40, half a second ahead of fifth-placed Tatiana Tostevin and 1.24 seconds in front of sixth-placed Emma Bourgaize.

Rabey’s time meant she finished 30th overall while Tostevin was 33rd and Bourgaize 34th.

“Being in a heat with two of my fellow swimmers from Guernsey is honestly amazing, you don’t get to do that very often,” Tostevin told BBC Guernsey.

“I think it’s so nice just having that familiar face.

“I know it’s a competition, but you’re always there trying to support each other and push everyone on to do as best they can, so it’s was great to do that with them alongside me.”

Rabey went on to come close to making the semi-finals of the women’s 100m butterfly.

She was 18th overall – two places off a semi-final spot – after finishing sixth in her heat in 1:03.76.

Oriana Wheeler was one place and 0.18 seconds behind her in 19th while Bourgaize was 28th after finishing fourth in her heat.

Ronny Hallett was just 0.12 seconds off a place in the men’s 50m breaststroke semi-finals after finishing seventh in his heat.

He clocked a time of 28.23 seconds as he raced alongside world record-holder Adam Ramsay-Peaty and Jersey’s 100m breaststroke silver medallist Filip Nowacki.

His brother Charlie-Joe was 23rd overall having finished seventh in his heat in 28.69 while Zachary Maiden and Henry Bolton finished 17th and 18th respectively in the men’s 200m backstroke.