Commonwealth Games: Micky Yule & Sammi Kinghorn add bronze medals as Scotland medal count rises

Powerlifter Micky Yule and track star Sammi Kinghorn both won bronze as Scotland also secured at least lawn bowls silver and boxing bronze at the Commonwealth Games.

Yule lifted 192kg to finish third in the heavyweight benchpress final, having come fourth at the last two Commonwealth Games.

Mixed para lawn bowls pair Melanie Innes and Robert Barr cruised past England 21-6 to reach Friday's B2/B3 final against Wales.

And Kinghorn powered home in third in the T53/54 1500m final - less than half a second behind the Australian top two.

In the ring, Matthew McHale and Tyler Jolly guaranteed at least bronze medals to ensure Scotland will claim at five boxing medals by the end of the Games.

Scotland's total medal tally sits at 34 won and, with more guaranteed, the team is closing in on the total of 44 gathered in the Gold Coast four years ago with four days of competition left.

Yule brings 'a bit of McColgan power'

Yule, 43, emptied himself to claim the medal which had evaded him in Glasgow in 2014, and on the Gold Coast four years ago.

The former staff sergeant in the British army had plenty of emotional tools to call upon to ensure he would not be denied a podium place again, and he certainly used them.

A fervent Scottish support roared him on and he fist-pumped after every lift in the city where he was given life-saving surgery in 2010, after he was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) while on duty in Afghanistan.

And his young daughter joined him on the stage and then held his hand through all of his interviews as Yule celebrated bronze in what he confirmed could be his final competition.

"I looked at myself and said: 'Listen, your daughter's here tonight.

"You're not going to leave without a medal.' I was looking her straight in the eye and was bringing that emotion. It needed to mean more than ever."

Then, there was the inspiration he took from Eilish McColgan as he watched his compatriot claim a stunning 10,000m gold on Wednesday night.

"I must have watched that 20 times," Yule added. "In my head, she kicked three times, and that was my three lifts. She fought back when everybody thought she would quit and she didn't.

"I said: 'That's your three lifts Micky. Get a bit of that McColgan power in you. Where's that grit? Make sure you bring it.'

"I saw her run to her mum and I thought: 'That's it - her running to her mum is your daughter running to you. Don't dare quit on yourself.'"

Third time lucky for Kinghorn

Kinghorn has also had her near misses when it comes to the Commonwealth Games having finished fifth at Glasgow 2014, and then fourth on the Gold Coast four years ago.

The 26-year-old was forced to race over a longer distance again at Alexander Stadium, having been the world champion over 100m and 200m.

But the Scot used the backing of the crowd to haul her to the line, as McColgan did in claiming a sensational 10,000m gold on Wednesday.

"This crowd! Most of them are probably English but they are absolutely getting behind the home nations," Kinghorn said.

"When I started accelerating down that back straight I could hear the crowd getting louder and louder and I thought 'come on, let's do this'.

"I just tried to kick and obviously burned out a little bit in the home straight and got caught but a medal for Scotland - it's a dream come true.

"Hopefully I have done all my friends and family as proud as I can. I love this, I genuinely love this."

Golf and UFC fuelling boxing medals

Scotland have won a boxing medal at every Commonwealth Games, and again on Thursday their young fighters delivered to guarantee at least five medals, with semi-finals to come on Saturday.

Edinburgh bantamweight McHale stopped Muhammad Ahmad Shaharom of Malaysia to reach the last four, before welterweight Jolly defeated Papua New Guinea's Neville Warupi to secure his passage.

Reese Lynch, Sam Hickey, and Sean Lazzerini will also fight in the semi-finals.

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Jolly echoed the words of McHale, who had said after his quarter-final win: "I don't care about bronze - I came here to get gold."

"I'm here for one thing and that's the gold medal," Jolly said. "As Kobe Bryant used to say, 'the jobs not finished until it's finished'."

Jolly survived a second-round knockdown to defeat Warupi.

"I got excited wanting to finish it," the Scot said.

"I wasn't hurt. I took most of the rest of that round off - then, in the last round, I switched it on, boxed the heid aff him and got the unanimous decision."

Asked how he would spend his time waiting for Saturday's semi-final, Jolly added: "Me, Reese and Sam, we've been playing golf and UFC on the Xbox. Just chilling oot. The three Musketeers!"