Day 2 - Isle of Man

Today was the first day of competition and it was a great one! Prince Edward visited the National Sport Centre and spoke with Sorrel, Steve, Mike, Jax, and Natalie after the swimming this morning and Dame Kelly Holmes also visited the events.

First thing this morning Sorrel raced the 100m Freestyle followed almost immediately by the 100m breastroke; normally there is a men's event between each of the women's events to give female swimmers a rest between races, unfortunately event 2 Men's 400m IM only had 7 swimmers registered so they moved it to the finals in the evening. This meant Sorrel swam in heat 1 of 3 in the 100m freestyle and then in heat 1 of 100m breastroke; she did very well taking this into consideration finishing in 1:14.22 in freestyle, taking a second and a half off her personal best (set in the Isle of Wight earlier this year) and in 1:34.27 in breastroke, only a couple of seconds off Claire Kilmartin's Falklands record for that event.

In badminton, the team had a good day, scores have been varied but not always reflective of the spirit and effort the players have played with. First to play was Dominic and Laura against Australia's Wong and Guan, they lost in two sets 6-21 and 5-21, being the first game of the day is always difficult and they managed to get some good rallies in. Next on the courts was Jordan and Sonia against India's Kidambi and Kukkapalli, they also lost in two sets 4-21 and 7-21.

In the men's singles Dominic faced India's Joshi, ranked 5/8 going in, who pushed Dominic to the extremes and Dominic responded very well losing a respectful 7-21 and 11-21. Jordan faced Zambia's Mulenga, who he practiced with in training yesterday, Jordan had a couple of strong rallies and lost 9-21 and 11-21.

In women's singles Laura faced Trinidad and Tobago's Fleary, she started strong, had moments of self-doubt, before composing herself and coming back strong in a late effort that left her to lose 16-21 and 8-21. Sonia faced Maldives' Hussain and had a very strong match, getting Falkland Islands first Commonwealth Youth Games badminton win, 21-11 and 21-5. She moved on to face England's Westwood in the top 16, she lost 5-21 and 7-21.

In the men's doubles Dominic and Jordan faced South Africa's Malan and Naidoo; this was a strong battle from the Falklands who ended up losing 13-21 and 10-21. Finally, in the women's doubles Sonia and Laura faced Canada's Tung and Kwok; the girls put up a good fight and lost 3-21 and 8-21.

Tomorrow, Sorrel races in 50m freestyle and 50m breastroke.