Australia’s Robbie Frank was outstanding; in arguably the best match to date in the Commonwealth Championships being staged at the Scotstoun Sports Campus in Glasgow, he beat England’s Paul Drinkhall by the very narrowest of margins in a scintillating five games duel.

Alas for Australia in their second stage duel against England on Thursday 21st May 2009, it was not sufficient to stave off defeat. David Powell lost to both Danny Reed and Paul Drinkhall; whilst in the crucial third match of the fixture, Andrew Rushton beat Tran Song Kiet.

Two Wins
England, seeded three, finished the day with two wins in the second stage of proceedings whilst for the spirited Australians it was two defeats.

Earlier in the day England had recorded a three-nil win over Scotland whilst Australia had suffered by the same margin at the hands of second seeds, India.

Convincing Conclusion
A convincing win for India in the first series of matches and they concluded the day with an equally convincing victory over Scotland.

The trio of Subhajit Saha, Sharath Kamal Achanta and Pathik Mehta proved too strong for the team of Gavin Rumgay, Craig Howieson and Stewart Crawford.

Medal Places
India and England occupy the top two places in their group with Australia and Scotland sharing third place; the teams will meet on Friday 22nd May to determine the final places in the group.

The winner of the India versus England contest will progress to the final whilst for the loser it will be the bronze medal whilst for whoever wins between Australia and Scotland will proceed to play for fifth and sixth places with the loser competing for seventh and eighth spots.

Singapore
In the corresponding group, Singapore occupies top spot, the trio of Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai Xiao Li concluding the third day with a three-nil victory over South African team of Shane Overmeyer, Theo Gogill and Shaun Jones.

Wales
Success for the top seeds but there was a surprise in store for the fourth seeds, Canada; they suffered a three-nil defeat at the hands of Wales.

Ryan Jenkins beat Pradeeban Peter-Paul, Adam Robertson accounted for Houmayan Kamkar-Parsi and Steven Jenkins overcame André Ho.

Earlier in the day Wales had lost to Singapore whilst Canada had beaten South Africa; the situation with one match to play is that Singapore leads the group with Canada and Wales in equal second place and South Africa fourth.

In the final series of matches Singapore faces Canada and Wales confronts South Africa,

Lower Places
Meanwhile, in the contest for places 9 to 17 where two groups are in operation.

Cyprus and Malaysia remain unbeaten ahead of Northern Ireland and New Zealand who are also level on points whilst in the counterpart group Jersey leads with Guernsey and Mauritius in equal second place followed by Malta and the Isle of Man.

Conclusion
The team events conclude on Friday 21st May 2009.

Image by Ayoade Ademakinwa