Loughborough College is celebrating a golden day ten at the Commonwealth Games with sport student Ross Wilson winning the TT 6-10 table tennis men’s singles finals and former students Richard Kilty and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey helping England triumph in the 4x100m relay final.
There were bronze medals for England Women and Men in the Hockey and England made history in the netball with a dramatic comeback in today’s game which sees them reach their first ever Commonwealth Games netball final.
A two-time Paralympic medal winner in the team event, Loughborough College’s Wilson beat England teammate Kim Daybell 3-1 to claim the Commonwealth title.
Daybell was the favourite and took the opening game 11-7 with Wilson losing five points on his own serve on the way.
But the Loughborough College sport student fought back.
Game two proved to be a turning point in the match with the contest swinging both ways before Wilson finally took it 12-10 to level things up.
The victory appeared to give Wilson the lift he needed, and he raced through the third set 11-3 to move one away from the gold medal.
Daybell put up a better fight in the fourth set, but a run of six points in a row - and nine points won on his own serve - helped Wilson clinch an 11-7 victory.
Daybell was forced to settle for silver, completing an all-British podium after Joshua Stacey of Wales had earlier won bronze.
“This is something I have always dreamed off but never thought it was possible,” said Wilson. “Coming out here and playing Kim in the final, who is a great player, I didn’t think it could have gone my way but today it did and I really brought out my best game today.
“To get England a one-two, a gold-silver, is absolutely fantastic and that’s what we came here to do.
“It’s a bit different going into the match because you are playing against someone you train with all the time. It is strange playing a match against them, but you just have to go into it and do your best to win the match.”
Kilty, Aikines-Aryeetey and teammates Reuben Arthur and Zharnel Hughes had been expected to come under severe pressure in the men's race on the final day of athletics on the Gold Coast. Every athlete from the quartet who had claimed world gold for Great Britain last year in London was missing through injury or other priorities.
But England's polished changeovers and a strong second leg from Hughes, running after losing gold to a disqualification in the individual 200m, proved enough.
Loughborough College graduate Aikines-Aryeetey, who anchored home the men's quartet, holding off South Africa's 100m champion Akani Simbine, said: “"I ran like a rabbit, I knew I had the second-fastest man of all time behind me and the 100m Commonwealth champion behind me."
“Reuben got a late call out – to put together a team in the manner which we have done, with Adam [Gemili] out there supporting us, it’s great. We won the World Champs with a different quartet. No doubt that the guys back home that would have been cheering us on too.
“We’re all well-drilled, it’s all down to our flat speed, so when we’re in shape, we do it. And it’s only April and we’ve won a championship, that’s great for us. A huge shout out goes to our support staff and British Athletics too.”
Fellow former student Kilty added: ““On the back of an amazing World Championships last year, we’re winning again which shows that we’re strong – it’s a completely different team to who ran in London so it shows the strength. Zharnel has got his gold now after a tough time the other day. Harry and I got a silver last time round, so it’s great to have a gold now.”
England won their sixth consecutive Commonwealth Games medal to claim women’s hockey bronze in a crushing 6-0 victory over India.
It was the tenth year in a row that the women have medalled as England or Great Britain at a major tournament.
Rio hockey medallist and Loughborough College alumna Nicola White was absent from Danny Kerry’s side for Australia but fellow alumna Suzy Petty did make selection.
England's men made it double hockey bronze, defeating India 2-1 and earning them a consecutive bronze Commonwealth medal.
The side featured Loughborough College alumni Henry Weir and Chris Griffiths.
“I feel absolutely fantastic, obviously a bit disappointed after yesterday’s game but we turned it around pretty quickly and our aim today was to go out and win the medal. We put in a really good performance so to come away with the bronze is fantastic,” said Chris.
“There wasn’t really any panic to be honest [Bobby Crutchley] was more as he has been the rest of the tournament , focusing on our game and trying not to look too much at the opposition. Obviously we’re aware of their threats and had a game plan to deal with that but the majority of it was to do with us and our game and I think we longer we can deliver that we give ourselves a better chance of putting our performance out there and coming away with results.
“The way we lost in the last game (against India) was obviously disappointing to take. At the time it was kind of half job done getting through to the semi-finals,that was our kind of focus. The outcome of that game wasn’t necessarily the disappointment, it was more the fact in the way we lost it. That was more to do with us but to get the win today and come away with the bronze medal is absolutely brilliant.”
England made history with a dramatic comeback over Jamaica in the semi-finals.
Former Loughborough College student Helen Housby said on twitter: “We have made it to the Commonwealth Games FINAL for the first time EVER!!!!”
Housby is joined on the squad by fellow former students Beth Cobden, Jodie Gibson, Kadeen Corbin and Natalie Haythornthwaite.
England were six goals down at half-time but won a crucial third quarter 16-14 to trail by only three going into the final 15 minutes. They led in the closing stages, only for Jamaica to level the scores at 55-55 with 30 seconds to play.
England had the centre pass, but the game looked to be heading to extra-time when Helen Housby missed with seven seconds left on the clock.
However, Harten, restored to the shooting circle, claimed the rebound and netted the winner with one second left to play for England to win 56-55 and take them into Sunday's final against world number one Australia.
England have not reached a global final since 1975 and have never won a major title.
Since netball was first played at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, all five finals have been contested by Australia and New Zealand.
Team England women's rugby sevens will face New Zealand in the semi-final of the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia after finishing second in pool B.
With Loughborough College student Megan Jones on the side together with alumna Claire Allan, it is the first time that women's rugby has been included at the Games.
England beat Fiji 17-5 in their opening fixture but lost 12-29 to the Australians following three second half tries at Robina Stadium. However, they responded today with a 45-0 win over Wales.
England men meanwhile qualified for the rugby sevens semi-finals after beating hosts Australia 26-17 in their last Pool B match at the Robina Stadium. They had earlier beaten Jamaica 38-5 and Samoa 33-0.
Former Loughborough College degree student Nathan Douglas was unable to secure his first Commonwealth Games gold medal as he finished fifth in the Triple Jump final.
Douglas produced a best leap of 16.35m, with Guyana’s Troy Doris crowned champion after a season’s best 16.88.
“I’m extremely disappointed if I’m honest,” he said afterwards. “ I came in with my eyes fully on that gold medal. I knew it was within my reach, those distances are definitely within my reach.
“Today I just couldn’t find a pattern on the runway at all. I seemed to really struggle and every run was different. I was trying to find rhythm and if you’re trying, straight away you know how much of a problem there is. I couldn’t catch the flow that I needed to, so I’m very disappointed.
“I really went for it on that last round, but I felt like I was fighting the wind. I’ve just got to keep on moving now, it is what it is, unfortunately.”
Pictured: England make history with a dramatic comeback over Jamaica in the semi-finals to go through to the Commonwealth Games netball finals