Commonwealth Games: Guernsey's Lucy Beere wins historic bowls silver medal for island

Lucy Beere (left) proudly shows off her silver medal alongside gold medallist Lucy Ryan and Malaysia's bronze-medal-winner Siti Zalina Ahmad

Guernsey bowler Lucy Beere has won silver in the women's singles at the Commonwealth Games - the island's first medal since 1994.

The 40-year-old was beaten by Australia's Ellen Ryan 21-17 in the gold medal match at Leamington Spa.

Beere guaranteed herself a medal after beating Malaysia's Siti Zalina Ahmad 21-15 in the semi-finals.

Her medal is Guernsey's first since shooters Adrian Breton and Graham le Maitre won bronze 28 years ago.

She missed out on what would have been a first gold medal for Guernsey since 1990, when Breton won the 25m rapid fire pistol title.

Guernsey last won a bowls medal in 1986, when Jenny Nicolle and Marie Smith took silver in the women's pairs, with Beere winning the island's fourth-ever silver medal at a Commonwealth Games.

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Lucy Beere had never got out of the group stage at the Commonwealth Games before 2022

"Anybody that knows me, I'm not normally speechless, but at this moment I am," Isle of Wight-born Beere said after the match.

"Thank you to Guernsey for adopting me as one of their own, I've been there 15 years and they've supported me all the way.

"I'm just super, super proud," added Beere, who starts the women's pairs event on Tuesday.

In a see-saw 24-end match that lasted almost two hours, Beere made a great start, racing into a 10-2 lead after eight ends.

But Ryan, who Beere beat 21-11 in the group stages on Friday, picked up three shots in the ninth end as she staged a remarkable comeback.

Beere did not score a shot from the 10th to the 14th end as Ryan came from 11-5 down to lead 12-11.

But Beere got a second wind and went 16-12 ahead after 17 ends, before Ryan wasted a chance to get a big score as she took one shot in the 18th and one more in the 19th to close the gap to 16-14.

Beere was millimetres away from hitting the jack with her final wood in the 20th end, as Ryan took three shots and went 17-16 up - a miss that seemed to take the wind of the Guernsey player's sails.

The Australian took four shots off the next three ends to lead 20-17, before finishing Beere off in the 24th end.

"It's highs and lows," Beere added to BBC Radio Guernsey.

"To come off after beating Lina to guarantee a medal, you obviously want to go that step further, but how can you be disappointed with a silver medal?

"Six months ago I didn't even know if I was coming due to personal reasons with my partner.

"So to go through that and then here I am, I'm here, so for me it's a massive relief to be able to still play at that standard considering I probably haven't played as much as I'd liked to."

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Analysis

Robin Grey, BBC Channel Islands sports reporter

Lucy Beere's silver medal is arguably Guernsey's greatest sporting achievement this century.

The Commonwealth Games are the biggest stage this island with a population of less than 64,000 inhabitants - around the same as Hereford - competes on.

It could still get better for Guernsey - they have high hopes for British 400m hurdles champion Alastair Chalmers, while boxer Billy le Poullain knows a quarter-final win over England's Lewis Richardson on Wednesday would guarantee at least a bronze at middleweight.