England draw first blood in Glasgow

England has drawn first blood in its battle with Australia for Commonwealth Games supremacy, winning gold in the women's triathlon on the opening day of competition. Pre-race favorite Jodie Stimpson claimed the first gold of the Games on Thursday, racing away from Australia's Emma Jackson who faded in the final lap of the 10km run to finish fifth.

Vicky Holland took the bronze for England to give the English the early edge over Australia whose mantle as Commonwealth Games top dogs is under its biggest threat since 1986.

Jackson was with Stimpson in the lead group when they jumped off their bikes and was still in touch with the medals until the Englishwoman skipped away powerfully in the last 3.3km lap of Strathclyde Country Park in Glasgow.

Earlier on Thursday, the Hockeyroos launched Australia's Games campaign in style with a comfortable 4-0 first up win over Malaysia. Wearing black armbands in memory of victims of the Malaysia Airlines tragedy, the defending champions strolled past the world No.21 after racing to a 3-0 halftime lead.

Defender Anna Flanagan said the Hockeyroos took the idea from the Malaysian Games team who marched in the opening ceremony on Wednesday night wearing armbands. "It's such a sad time. Not just for them but the rest of the world and it has really affected our country back home and we wanted to show our love and support to the families affected," she said.

Twelve of the 17 sports kicked off the Games on Thursday, with swimming heats and cycling qualification rounds conducted in the morning before their finals later on Thursday night.

The men's triples lawn bowlers the first Australians to complete a match at the Games, beating Pakistan 19-12 in their opening pool game, while the women's fours had a tight 12-10 win over PNG.

Australia's table tennis players swept Guyana 3-0 in the women's team first round match.

By Adriana Rueda

Source: Yahoo News