Guernsey's Merrien progresses to bowls semi-finals

Guernsey's Alison Merrien is through to the semi-finals in the women's bowls singles at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Merrien progressed after a tense 2-0 win over Northern Ireland's Shauna O'Neill.

Both players went into the match unbeaten but Merrien's victory meant she could not be caught at the top of the group as no player could match the number of sets she has won.

She will play her semi-final at 20:40 BST on Saturday evening.

Merrien delivered a superb shot to win a first set that she never led until the final bowl.

The Guernsey player took three shots in the fifth end to make it 5-5 but went 6-5 down in the next.

But Merrien's final shot in the final end of the first set was inch-perfect as she nestled on the jack to earn two shots and snatch it 7-6.

Merrien produced another excellent shot to go 3-2 up after four ends in the second set before taking two more shots in the following end to lead 5-2.

O'Neill - who won pairs bronze earlier in the week - cut the gap to 5-3 in the penultimate end, but could not close the gap as Merrien went on to win the set 7-3.

"It was a tight first set, we were both a bit scrappy but I had some good bowls to turn it around," Merrien told BBC Guernsey.

"I wanted to clinch the first set, make it a bit more positive for the second, and I managed to do that with the last bowl.

"I'm towards the end of my career, so these youngsters coming up want to get to me and take me.

"Shauna's a very good player, it's the third time I've played her this year but the third time I've beaten her, so I'm happy with that."

Merrien went on to lose to New Zealand's Taylor Bruce 2-0 in her final pool match on Friday night.

Bruce took the first set 8-3 before winning the second 7-3.

Guernsey bowlers Jason Greenslade and Ian Merrien kept their medals hopes alive at the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a 2-0 win over Malta.

The island duo moved to the top of their group on shots difference after defeating Troy Lorimer and Shaun Parnis in their fourth match.

Unbeaten rivals Malaysia - who they face in their final game on Saturday - have a game in hand in Guernsey's men's pair but face a tough test against Wales later on Friday.

The Guernsey pair recovered from a 5-0 deficit after the first two ends against Malta to win the first set 6-5 in Glasgow.

They then took a 5-0 lead in the second set which they did not relinquish as they went on to win 9-3.

Only the group winners will qualify for the knockout rounds.

"They pulled away, they did get a couple of maximum results, but it's not always going to stay like that," Merrien told BBC Guernsey.

"Even though they were 5-0 up, whether we got back into the set or not, there's always a second set and tie-break, so you've just got to keep plugging away.

"We've got to play Malaysia who are undefeated so far, but I think if we beat them we've got better sets so it's looking good, it's still in our own hands."

Meanwhile Abi Galpin missed out on a place in the final of the long jump.

The Guernsey record-holder's first effort of 5.94m proved to be her best - 0.29m off a place in the final.

It left Galpin, who set a Guernsey record of 6.18m earlier this month, 17th overall in qualifying.

"I'm relatively new to long jump and very much so on a stage such as the Commonwealth Games," Galpin told BBC Guernsey.

"There's positives and lots of learning experiences to take.

My best jump, 5.94, would have been a PB had I not jumped 6.18 only like a week or two ago, which is obviously great but I wasn't even on the board for that jump.

"So I really feel like I had a big six metres in me today and I just couldn't hook it all together to get that perfect jump in."