Guernsey bowls pair win Glasgow 2026 opener

Guernsey bowlers Rose Ogier and Alison Merrien got Guernsey's 2026 Commonwealth Games off to a good start as they won their opening match 2-0.

The duo beat the Isle of Man's Caroline Whitehead and Paula Garrett 5-1, 3-2 in their first women's pair's game in Glasgow.

"It's always nice to get one under your belt, it gives you confidence for the next one and we'll see what happens next," Merrien told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"We weren't sure what to expect, obviously they're good players in their own right.

"You've just got to go out and play your own game and we managed to play quite well today and come away with the win."

Compatriot Jason Greenslade - who won the 2024 World Indoor Bowls Championship - lost 1.5-0.5 to Australia's Aaron Wilson.

Greenslade, who won fours bronze with Wales in 2002, is representing Guernsey for the first time since moving to the island in 2022.

Having lost the first set 8-4, Greenslade was 6-1 up in the second set after five ends.

But Wilson picked up five shots in the final two ends to tie the set at 6-6 and ensure a disappointing start to the Games for Greenslade.

Meanwhile, Jersey's Taylor Greechan's Games got off to a losing start as he went down 2-0 to Isle of Man's Mark McGreal.

Greechan - in his first games - was 10-1 down in the opening end before pulling it back to lose 10-5.

He had an excellent start to the second leg, winning the first end 4-0, but McGreal gradually hauled the Jerseyman back to win 9-6.

"It's really special to be here, I'm not amazed with the result, it wasn't the result I had planned," Greechan told BBC Radio Jersey.

"But it is what it is, we move forward to tomorrow morning.

"I picked up a four in the first end, but I sort of faltered like the start of the first set, dropped a silly four and that was it."