Commonwealth Games: Para-cyclist James Ball wins first Wales 2022 gold

Para-cyclist James Ball won Wales' first gold at the Commonwealth Games in the final of the men's tandem B sprint.

Ball, who claimed silver on the opening day in the tandem B 1,000m time trial, recorded victory with pilot Matt Rotherham.

Fellow cyclists Eluned King and William Roberts won bronze in the women's points and men's scratch race.

The mixed triathlon relay team also claimed silver, while swimmers Lily Rice and Medi Harris claimed bronze.

Wales have won six medals on day three to take the overall medal haul in Birmingham to nine.

There is a chance of a 10th medal at the table tennis despite heartbreak for Wales women's team as they missed out on the gold medal match following a 3-2 semi-final defeat against Malaysia.

It proved a three-and-a-half hour epic which came down to the final set of the deciding match between Charlotte Carey and Ho Ying.

Wales will have to pick themselves up for the bronze medal match against Australia on Monday morning with Malaysia facing Singapore in the final.

In the Lee Valley VeloPark in London, Ball beat Scotland's Neil Fachie, who was assisted by Lewis Stewart.

The Scottish and Welsh tandems have battled it out regularly, with Fachie claiming his fifth Games gold ahead of Ball on Friday.

But this time Ball and Rotherham were too strong and took the final without the need for a decider.

It was Ball's first Commonwealth gold having won two silvers in Australia's Gold Coast four years ago.

"It's such a great achievement, I've waited a long time for something like this," said Ball.

"It's more of a relief than anything. A lot of training has been going into this so I'm just happy to actually get the result I wanted this time."

Alex Pope, piloted by Steffan Lloyd, lost out for a bronze against Australia's Beau Wooton.

King won her bronze medal a day before her 20th birthday.

"I'm just amazed, I didn't expect it," said King.

"I just went into the race with some processes I wanted to tick off and some demons I wanted to get rid of.

"It shows what goes right when you believe in yourself and you have a support network around you."

In the men's scratch race, Roberts claimed third behind New Zealand's Corbin Strong and Scotland's John Archibald.

In the women's 500m time trial, Emma Finucane could not add to her two medals as she had to be content, while Ellie Coster placed 13th.

Nia Holt and her pilot Amy Cole were fifth in the women's tandem B time trial final.

The 2013 world champion Non Stanford beat Australian triathlete Sophie Linn in a sprint finish for the silver medal in the mixed relay event.

Stanford took on the final leg for the Welsh quartet, which included Iestyn Harrett, Olivia Mathias and Dominic Coy.

"I think it's beyond all of our dreams," said Stanford.

"We thought we were an outside chance of a medal today if everything went perfectly for us, and to walk away with a silver, I think we've exceeded every single person's expectations.

"These guys were just incredible and they handed over to me in the perfect position and I just had to finish it off. So big kudos to them, they were amazing."

Stanford, 33, finished fourth in the 2016 Olympics in Rio and will retire at the end of the 2022 season.

"The Commonwealth Games came on my radar a long time for the Olympics," added Stanford.

"This is actually my final year of racing, I am retiring this year. So to do this with the team is so special and the icing on the cake.

"I think I can hang my shoes up now and be happy with the silver and it's all thanks to these guys. It's the perfect ending to a really long career."

Wales finished behind England quartet Alex Yee, Sophie Coldwell, Sam Dickinson and Georgia Taylor-Brown.

Para-triathlete Rhys Jones finished fourth in the men's PTVI final. Jones, guided by Rhys James, just missed out on a podium position in the visually impaired section.

The race was won by England's David Ellis, who was guided by Luke Pollard.

Jones is the first Welsh para-triathlete to compete at a Commonwealth Games after the sport was first included four years ago.

Rice finished behind England's Alice Tai in the women's 100m backstroke S8 final to complete a remarkable transition to swimming.

Rice made her sporting name originally as a 'wheelchair backflipper' before being included in Wales' swimming team for the Commonwealth Games.

The Pembrokeshire teenager became only the second woman in the world to land a backflip in a wheelchair in 2017, and went on to become world champion in wheelchair motocross (WCMX).

She took up swimming again after watching the Tokyo Paralympics, and qualified for the Commonwealth Games less than eight months later.

"It's absolutely amazing," said Rice.

"At the start we thought we were doing heats and finals and initially I was getting a bit stressed about that.

"But I'm so glad we've done just finals because I haven't been well over the last few weeks. It feels great, I'm top three so I'll take that."

Rice claimed Wales' first medal in the pool but that was quickly followed by another podium position when Harris claimed 100m backstroke bronze behind Australia's Kaylee McKewon.

Harris, 19, has enjoyed a breakthrough year with two World Championship finals and now has a Commonwealth medal.

"I'm so happy with that swim, it was a good race," said Harris.

"Hopefully as time goes on I'll be able to work on that back end and keep up with them."

In bowls, the men's triples of Owain Dando, Ross Owen and Jonathan Tomlinson are through to the semi-finals against England on Monday after a 17-12 victory over Scotland.

They will be joined by the men's pairs of Daniel Salmon and Jarrad Breen who are also through to a semi-final against Northern Ireland after a 15-12 victory over South Africa.

Laura Daniels is out of the women's singles after a 21-11 defeat to Norfolk Island's Shea Wilson. The para men's pairs of Paul James and Christopher Spriggs finished fifth in the group stage, failing to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Squash siblings Tesni and Emyr Evans both bowed out of the singles events but Emily Whitlock and Joel Makin qualified for the quarter-finals.

Gymnasts Poppy-Grace Stickler finished fifth and Jea Maracha 10th in the women's all-round final, while Jacob Edwards and Josh Cook were 10th and 12th respectively in the men's competition.

Wales hockey men's and rugby sevens sides both lost to England but the netballers edged a tight affair 48-42 against Scotland, their first victory of the tournament so far.

Weightlifter Michael Farmer finished seventh in the 73kg section.