Historic gold - Commonwealth Games Day 10

Steph Wood, the former Pine Rivers association netball junior, and her Australian Diamonds team-mates struck historic gold at the Commonwealth Games this morning.

The Aussies avenged their shock pool defeat by beating Jamaica 55-51 in the final and became the first nation to win 1000 gold medals in Games history.

Level at 29-29 after two quarters, Australia pulled away taking the third quarter 10-16 and held the buffer despite a late surge from Jamaica.

Channel 7 commentators paid tribute to the Diamonds’ resilience in the face of Jamaican pressure which threatened to snatch gold.

Wood, who lived in Brendale, scored three times from five shots and led the charge to celebrate on court at the finish.

Feature picture courtesy Commonwealth Games Australia.

Final hurdle

There was a silver lining for ex-Redcliffe junior Renee Taylor and the Hockeyroos in Birmingham last night.

Australia lost the women's hockey final 2-1 to England who did the damage in the second quarter, scoring twice – a lead which proved decisive.

The Hockeyroos pulled one back in the final quarter but could not find an equaliser. Taylor, who played two seasons with Redcliffe's Under 11s, had one shot but did not beat the keeper.

In a fine Games performance, Australia swept through their Pool winning all four games, scoring 16 times and conceding none. Midfielder Taylor scored against Scotland.

So, so close ...

It took one of the greatest sprinters of all time to deny Australia and former Burpengary resident Ella Connolly a Commonwealth Games medal last night.

Connolly, 22, was in the Australian 4x100m relay team which was metres from a bronze medal when five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah struck.

The Games’ 100m and 200m champion caught Australia’s Naa Anang in the final strides to snatch third place in 43.08 seconds.

Australia, the seventh fastest qualifiers in the final, were just a step behind clocking 43.16 seconds in fourth.

The platform for that superb run by the Aussies was laid by Connolly, who was a Deception Bay Little Athletics member, with an excellent first leg.

Bree Masters and Jacinta Beecher, a former Bracken Ridge Little Athlete, put Australia into the top three off the bend giving Anang a chance of a medal.

She had a lead but Thompson-Herah, the world 100m record holder, soon started closing the gap and timed her run for a place on the podium to perfection.

Nigeria took the gold in 42.10 seconds, England silver in 42.41.

Final countdown

Bald Hills resident Jess Turnbull and her squash doubles partner Alex Haydon are through to the Plate final of the women's doubles at the Commonwealth Games.

Having been knockout of the women’s doubles round of 16, Turnbull and Alex Haydon went into the Plate competition.

In the quarter-finals they beat Guyana’s Mary Fung-A-Fat and Ashley Khalil 2-0 (11-3 11-4) to set up a semi-final against Naomi Neo Phatisma and Leungo Kahtse, from Botswana.

The Aussies repeated the feat winning 2-0 (11-4 11-3) and will face Faiza Zafar and Amna Fayyaz of Pakistan in the Plate final tonight at 7pm AEST.