Commonwealth Games: Para-cyclist James Ball wins first medal for Wales

Para-cyclist James Ball emulated his 2018 Gold Coast exploits by again winning Wales' first medal of a Commonwealth Games.

On the opening day of competition, Ball claimed another silver in the men's tandem B 1,000m time trial with pilot Matt Rotherham.

The pair finished behind Scotland's Neil Fachie.

Wales' team sprint squad of Lowri Thomas, Rhian Edmunds and Emma Finucane later claimed bronze.

The trio defeated Australia for a place on the podium to collect a second medal for Team Wales.

While the Games are being staged by Birmingham, the track cycling is taking place at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London.

Megan Barker, Ella Barnwell, Anna Morris, Jessica Roberts finished fourth in the women's team pursuit after missing out on a bronze medal to England.

The men's quartet of Rhys Britton, Joe Holt, William Roberts and Josh Tarling also had to be content with fourth after losing the bronze medal race to Australia.

Silver lining again

Ball and Rotherham had set a new Commonwealth Games record of 1:00.053 before Fachie triumphed alongside his piloted Lewis Stewart.

England's Stephen Bate and Christopher Latham took the bronze medal as Welshman Alex Pope finished fifth.

Ball won two silvers in Australia four years ago and claimed the first podium position for Team Wales.

His rivalry on the track with Fachie goes back to the World Championships in 2016.

Ball finished third when Fachie won the gold that year and since then the Team GB training partners have traded golds and silvers at every major meeting.

Ball got the upper hand at the 2017 and 2020 worlds and in the 2019 time trial, but he has finished second to Fachie in the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games sprints as well in Tokyo last year.

It was even more interesting with both riders swapping pilots back and forth. Ball's 2017 world titles were won with Rotherham, and the pair are back together for these Games, but his 2020 titles were won with Stewart who rides with Fachie this year.

"I feel good," said Ball.

"It's still a medal on a world stage and I am very happy about that.

"It is hard reflecting straight after you have done it because I just sat on the floor and had a good five minutes by myself because I knew this was coming!

"I am happy because I would never begrudge getting a medal especially at a stadium and unbelievable crowd like this in London."

Not long after Ball claimed silver, the Wales women's sprint team delivered another podium position.

"To get a medal at our first games is absolutely amazing," said Lowri Thomas.

"Being as young as these two are and barely riding for more than three years is absolutely wicked.

"We reset ourselves, spoke about what we needed to do for the next ride and we nailed absolutely every part of it."

Best of the rest

In the pool, Daniel Jervis finished eighth in the 400m freestyle final but will go in his favoured 1,500m event later in the competition.

The 4x100m mixed freestyle relay team of Dan Jones, Matthew Richards, Medi Harris and Rebecca Sutton finished fourth in the final.

Lewis Fraser finished third in his 50m butterfly final with a new Welsh record to qualify for Saturday's final, while Harriet Jones will compete in the women's 100m butterfly final.

Non Stanford, Olivia Mathias and Isabel Morris finished sixth, seventh and 19th in the women's triathlon with the race won by Bermuda's Olympic champion Flora Duffy ahead of Georgia Taylor-Brown and Beth Potter.

Iestyn Harrett and Dominic Coy finished ninth and 18th respectively in the men's event won by England's Alex Yee, while Emyr Evans and Peter Creed won men's singles squash matches in the last 64 round.

Jacob Edwards, Brinn Bevan, Josh Cook, Joe Cemlyn-Jones and Emil Barber performed admirably in the men's team final as they eventually finished sixth.

The women's table tennis team of Charlotte Carey, Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang and Anna Hursey beat Vanuatu and Uganda in their opening two group games.

Wales women's hockey side lost 4-0 in the opening match against Canada, while the netball side held their own against three-time medallists Jamaica but ultimately fell to a 72-43 defeat as the Sunshine Girls showcased the power in their attack and strength in depth.

In bowls, Laura Daniels made a comfortable start to her women's singles campaign with a 21-2 victory over Daphne Arthur-Arnold in her first group match.

Christopher Spriggs and Paul Brown beat South Africa 14-9 in their first group match in the men's pairs B6-B8 before losing 19-9 to Scotland.

Wales trio Owain Dando, Ross Owen and Jonathan Tomlinson lost to Fiji 13-12 and drew 15-15 with Northern Ireland in the men's triples.

In order to advance to the quarter finals, Wales will have to beat Norfolk Island and hope Fiji beat Northern Ireland. This will leave Wales and Northern Ireland tied on points, so it will go down to shot difference.

Daniel Salmon and Jarrad Breen beat Namibia by 16-14 in their first group match of the men's pairs.

The Wales women's fours of Sara Nicholls, Caroline Taylor, Ysie White and Anwen Butten lost both of group matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

Light-heavyweight boxer Taylor Bevan won his round of 32 bout against New Zealand's Onyx Lea with a first round knockout but middleweight Haaris Khan lost to England's Lewis Richardson.