Mighty fall at C’wealth Games’ wacky races

MELBOURNE – Farce and controversy dogged the final night of Commonwealth Games athletics on Saturday as medal hopes vanished in a fog of disqualifications and dropped batons.

The majority of the 80 000 fans packed inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground didn’t know whether to watch with pride or look away in agony. Local hero Craig Mottram was clipped from behind in the 1500 metres, fell to the track and was run out of medal contention.Their men’s 4×100 m relay team also missed out on gold when Matt Shirvington and Adam Miller botched their baton handover.The Australian men’s 4×400 m relay team stormed to victory but their women’s team were promoted to winners only after England were disqualified in a race where Jamaica, leading at the time, also dropped the baton.Aussie women sprinters just about hung onto bronze after a botched final handover almost scuppered their chances in the 4×100 m relay.Butter-fingers Ghana didn’t manage the first changeover while only five of the eight teams in the men’s 4×100 m relay, which was won by an Asafa Powell-inspired Jamaica, reached the finish line.”I wanted Australia to finish the race, so we could get a better time.”said Powell.Shirvington accepted the embarrassment with good grace.”We came out expecting to win.But I guess it’s just the way it goes sometimes.”It had been a similar tale of woe in the heats when six teams dropped the baton including England who boasted three of the British line-up who managed to keep it in hand when they took gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.Amongst the mayhem, Jamaica were able to celebrate a full house of the sprint titles in Melbourne as the 23-year-old world record holder Powell added a second gold to his individual crown.So too did Sherri-Ann Brooks in the women’s relay as the Jamaicans added to their successes in the men and women’s 100 and 200m and the 100m and 110m hurdles.At least the Australians finished the night on a high when Kym Howe led a 1-2 in the women’s pole vault leaping to a new Games record of 4.62 metres.Defending champion Tatiana Grigorieva was second.New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis clinched the 1500m, England’s Nick Neiland and Phillips Idowu took the javelin and triple jump respectively.Uganda’s Boniface Toroitich won the 10 000 m.England’s boxers collected a record-equalling five gold medals courtesy of lightweight Frankie Gavin, super-heavyweight David Price, flyweight Don Broadhurst, featherweight Stephen Smith and light-welterweight Jamie Russan.Australia came away with two golds through middleweight Jarrod Fletcher and heavyweight Brad Pitt, while India celebrated only its second-ever Games boxing gold with bantamweight Akhil Kumar.Jafet Uutoni, of Namibia, was the light-flyweight winner with Ken Anderson of Scotland clinching light-heavyweight gold and Bongani Mwelase of South Africa taking the welterweight glory.Meanwhile, Indian sharpshooter Samaresh Jung’s bid for a record-equalling six golds at the same Games ended in disappointment when his gun misfired during the men’s 25-metre standard pistol event.The eventual winner of the event, England’s Mick Gault, extended his own record when he claimed his 15th medal from four Games to establish himself as his country’s most successful competitor.Gault edged out Pakistan’s Irshad Ali in a two-way shoot-off with Australian Bruce Quick claiming the bronze.Jung, dubbed ‘Goldfinger’ by the local media, had been a hot favourite to break the record of six gold medals at a single games held jointly by Australian swimmers Susie O’Neill and Ian Thorpe.But the New Delhi security officer finished with a bronze in Friday’s 25m Centre Fire Pistol and was then fifth on Saturday.Australia beat India 1-0 to win the women’s hockey gold with skipper Nikki Hudson scoring the winner eight minutes before the final whistle.England won the bronze defeating New Zealand 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out.The Hockeyroos won all their six matches in the 10-nation competition here, scoring 31 goals and conceding just two.Singapore hammered home their credentials as the major Games power in table tennis when Li Jiawei and Zhang Xue both qualified for the women’s singles before they both teamed up for the women’s doubles gold.Teammates Sharon Tan and Zhang Xu took silver.Segun Toriloa and Monday Merotohun of Nigeria clinched the men’s doubles title.The diving programme came to an end with Canada’s Blythe Hartley winning the women’s 3m springboard with Australia’s Mathew Helm capturing the men’s 10 m platform.-Nampa-AFPLocal hero Craig Mottram was clipped from behind in the 1500 metres, fell to the track and was run out of medal contention.Their men’s 4×100 m relay team also missed out on gold when Matt Shirvington and Adam Miller botched their baton handover.The Australian men’s 4×400 m relay team stormed to victory but their women’s team were promoted to winners only after England were disqualified in a race where Jamaica, leading at the time, also dropped the baton.Aussie women sprinters just about hung onto bronze after a botched final handover almost scuppered their chances in the 4×100 m relay.Butter-fingers Ghana didn’t manage the first changeover while only five of the eight teams in the men’s 4×100 m relay, which was won by an Asafa Powell-inspired Jamaica, reached the finish line.”I wanted Australia to finish the race, so we could get a better time.”said Powell.Shirvington accepted the embarrassment with good grace.”We came out expecting to win.But I guess it’s just the way it goes sometimes.”It had been a similar tale of woe in the heats when six teams dropped the baton including England who boasted three of the British line-up who managed to keep it in hand when they took gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.Amongst the mayhem, Jamaica were able to celebrate a full house of the sprint titles in Melbourne as the 23-year-old world record holder Powell added a second gold to his individual crown.So too did Sherri-Ann Brooks in the women’s relay as the Jamaicans added to their successes in the men and women’s 100 and 200m and the 100m and 110m hurdles.At least the Australians finished the night on a high when Kym Howe led a 1-2 in the women’s pole vault leaping to a new Games record of 4.62 metres.Defending champion Tatiana Grigorieva was second.New Zealand’s Nicholas Willis clinched the 1500m, England’s Nick Neiland and Phillips Idowu took the javelin and triple jump respectively.Uganda’s Boniface Toroitich won the 10 000 m.England’s boxers collected a record-equalling five gold medals courtesy of lightweight Frankie Gavin, super-heavyweight David Price, flyweight Don Broadhurst, featherweight Stephen Smith and light-welterweight Jamie Russan.Australia came away with two golds through middleweight Jarrod Fletcher and heavyweight Brad Pitt, while India celebrated only its second-ever Games boxing gold with bantamweight Akhil Kumar.Jafet Uutoni, of Namibia, was the light-flyweight winner with Ken Anderson of Scotland clinching light-heavyweight gold and Bongani Mwelase of South Africa taking the welterweight glory.Meanwhile, Indian sharpshooter Samaresh Jung’s bid for a record-equalling six golds at the same Games ended in disappointment when his gun misfired during the men’s 25-metre standard pistol event.The eventual winner of the event, England’s Mick Gault, extended his own record when he claimed his 15th medal from four Games to establish himself as his country’s most successful competitor.Gault edged out Pakistan’s Irshad Ali in a two-way shoot-off with Australian Bruce Quick claiming the bronze.Jung, dubbed ‘Goldfinger’ by the local media, had been a hot favourite to break the record of six gold medals at a single games held jointly by Australian swimmers Susie O’Neill and Ian Thorpe.But the New Delhi security officer finished with a bronze in Friday’s 25m Centre Fire Pistol and was then fifth on Saturday.Australia beat India 1-0 to win the women’s hockey gold with skipper Nikki Hudson scoring the winner eight minutes before the final whistle.England won the bronze defeating New Zealand 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out.The Hockeyroos won all their six matches in the 10-nation competition here, scoring 31 goals and conceding just two.Singapore hammered home their credentials as the major Games power in table tennis when Li Jiawei and Zhang Xue both qualified for the women’s singles before they both teamed up for the women’s doubles gold.Teammates Sharon Tan and Zhang Xu took silver.Segun Toriloa and Monday Merotohun of Nigeria clinched the men’s doubles title.The diving programme came to an end with Canada’s Blythe Hartley winning the women’s 3m springboard with Australia’s Mathew Helm capturing the men’s 10 m platform.-Nampa-AFP