BBC Two: Day 8: 13:00 - 13:45 Commonwealth Games

Hello, welcome back to Glasgow, the eighth day of the 20th Commonwealth

Games. A big night of athletics to come, but this afternoon, lots of

sporting action for you. We have reached the last 16 of the

women's singles, Sarah Walker is up against her opponent from Jersey.

The tasty matchups continue in the women's doubles squash, England

against Australia. And, the men's time trial is up and

running, will it be a happy ending for David Millar in the men's time

trial? Lots of great coverage for you right

now over on BBC Three. If you want diving from Edinburgh, that is the

place to go. Tonia Couch in action. On the red button, women's doubles

squash. And, the best of the action from that later on this programme.

The Hydro is the place for world-class gymnastics this

afternoon. A big night of track and field. Follow all of the action on

the website. Use the brilliant BBC Sport app to follow the action and

the latest results. First, it is the badminton. It is

getting very exciting in the women's singles.

The Emirates Arena, including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, opened in

2012, providing a dramatic setting for the badminton during the

Commonwealth Games, with the athletes competing on six fantastic

courts. England's national champion Sarah Walker is against Elizabeth

Cann, having beaten her in straight games during the mixed team

competition. They have just started, so we will go straight live to the

Emirates Arena. This has the makings of a really mouthwatering clash

between these two. That gave the gold medal... That is

the wrong expression, but it meant Malaysian won the gold medal. It

will be disappointment for her, but it is the team that loses and the

team that wins. It is so true, but in that match, I think that she

played really well. It was decent scoring, something like 15 and 16.

16 and 17. I think she had a very good performance. I know it is very

early days, but I think she is the small favourite to win this one. I

am sure she is able to. Able to put what happened in the past behind her

and look forward to playing these matches.

A nice smash, that will help calm the nerves.

That is bad luck. A good shot. It is a difficult shot from the deep

backhand corner, sorry, forehand corner. A good height. It is amazing

that Elizabeth Cann is competing in her fifth consecutive Commonwealth

Games. She competed in the first three four Jersey, then in 2010 she

represented England, but here she is, for jersey again. But five

Commonwealth Games is phenomenal. It is. She is 35 now. She is keeping

herself very well, in good shape, and playing some good badminton. She

is not competing so much on the international circuit any more, but

we can easily see she loves the game. Yes.

Talking about her physicality, she is obviously a natural athlete, you

can see that from just looking at her. I didn't know whether she was

still doing it, but in the past, she has done her physical training under

the guidance of England's former number one high jumper, Dalton

Grant. A lot of work on the track and in the gym. That makes a lot of

sense to me. I know it is going back some years, but when I used to play,

I was a very decent high jumper. Very decent. I was competing in the

First Division back home, in one match, then I got banned for being

professional, so to speak, because I was professional in another sport.

Can you believe that? But I was jumping close to two metres by doing

no work at all. I love that, unlike the discipline. -- I like the

discipline. And that training helped your badminton. The push off is so

important. I like the way Walker was dictating

the pace. Yes, I am sitting here with this feeling. There is the

coach of Jersey. I notice a great difference today with Sarah Walker,

compared to when she played the other day. I think she is very

calm, and I think she has a lot of confidence that she will win this

match. She is prepared to sit back a bit. She was rushing it a lot when

she played the other day. Today, she is much more relaxed, waiting for

the opportunities. She looks much better to me. Yes. And because of

the commentator! Straightaway! I think she is trying to control her

smashes a bit more, not 100% power. She plays than 70, 80%, but by doing

so, she is keeping them in. Whether I am right or not, time will tell.

This has been a good start to the match.

That is close. That is well left by Walker. That must have been

desperately close. The angle was cheating me a bit from

up here. A service fault is called. The racket not pointing in a

downward direction, and I concur. Completely. A good spot.

She finds the line, and a 2-point advantage for the number seven seed

Sarah Walker. Peter Jeffrey, the England coach,

who was talking to Sarah Walker. That is nice. Did you manage to

catch anything of what Peter Jeffrey said? I think they are happy with

how the match is developing so far. They expect that Elizabeth Karen can

follow the pace in the beginning, but they expect that Sarah Walker

will be pulling away, because at the end of the day, they do not feel

that Elizabeth can can keep following the pace and the physical

strength. Maybe they are right. Let's wait and see. A good shot.

That is something that she should do some more, try to play a bit more

aggressive badminton, to try to unsettle Walker, because if she gets

too confident in her shots and does not feel under pressure, it could be

difficult for her to win. She wants to change the shuttlecock.

You could see she landed before she tried to play that. She played

beforehand with a bent arm. All contributing to making the error.

That net shot is what she has to watch out for. That is where Walker

is playing really well. Be careful of the backhand corner. That is good

play. A good smash again. Yes. Building up

the valley well. It shows a lot of confidence, because when I have seen

her play before, she did not have the same patients. She has made a

lot more attacks -- mistakes on her attacks and smashes. It is a clear

sign that she feels comfortable. of a full powered smash, a straight

slice, giving the shuttle a glancing blow makes it goes down steep and a

little slower. That is bad luck. Elizabeth McCarron

-- Elizabeth Cann getting into trouble in that deep corner. The

follow-up was very nice, to see how badly she got to it but missing it

was unfortunate. This is what expected in the English

camp, Cann keep following. Keep adding the pressure and she will

eventually crack which is perhaps what we are seeing.

She finds the line again. Both you and I have played many years. And

you know how difficult it is to play a match where you favourite to win,

and you are playing against someone you so well. A compatriot of your

own. You know how difficult that is. The coach in the camp has really

prepared Walker well. She is not nervous, she is just getting on with

the job which is not easy. Oh, yes. First time of asking.

21-14. 15 minutes. That is the perfect start for the

number seven seed. Really disciplined, on plan. It

takes the spin out of her came -- her game, and she starts high

clearing. You are doing really well.

Play it off the centre, keep your patients. Don't panic. -- patience.

Confirmation, 21-14 in favour of Sarah Walker.

Elizabeth Cann representing Jersey. The two coaches are former England

players, Mark Constable and Nathan Robertson. And Peter Jeffrey saying

to Sarah Walker, he was really pleased, it was disciplined, staying

to the game plan. As I said earlier, it has been a

very good game plan. And she has been very disciplined and is

following its most of the time and is showing how patient she is,

waiting for the chances. As I said earlier, this match is prepared very

well. Looking at it from the other side of

it, I must admit I didn't get much of what the coaches were saying.

From my point of view, I think that Cann has two play more aggressively

now. She has two ad on the pressure and try to upset the rhythm. If she

is not doing it, she will not win. In my book, how much energy has she

got left? Even if there is only five minutes, give it the best. Better to

do that than to lose nice and easy. But everything you have into five

minutes and shake it up. I felt in that opening game that

Elizabeth Cann was too reactive, instead of being proactive. It is

very interesting that you are feeling the same as me. I have

watched her over a number of years and I am not sure that is her style

of game. Remember that bronze play-off match in Delhi with Susan

Hughes. Elizabeth can just ran and ran and ran. She has got good skills

but she does not like to use them as often as is perhaps we would like to

see her use them. If I had been her coach, obviously not today but years

ago, when she was coming up, I would have put a lot more emphasis on

horror attacking game. The basic game is nice. She moves

well on the court. She has very good technique, she can play almost any

shot in the book. But she is lacking that winning shot which is something

you have to work on. Yes. Stretching out nicely, leaving her

playing it wide. You see, this is what will happen if

Walker is getting insecure. Smashers start going out. That is what is

Cann had to try to achieve. That insecurity. -- smashes.

In case you are wondering what the noise is, I can tell you on an

adjoining court, the second seed in the women's singles has secured her

victory. Once again, we see here Sarah Walker

is getting a little bit impatient. Pushing her shots a bit too much and

making mistakes. These mistakes are mainly coming from the back line,

the bass line. And I think that Elizabeth Cann should push towards

that bass line as much as possible, and give her an invitation and see

whether she will make a mistake. Because, at the moment, Cann is

making more mistakes. That is it, going long. But he liked

the tactics? I like the tactics but I would not have chosen such a high

clear, I would have punched it a bit more. A bit flatter. That would add

on the pace. That is delightful. A good shot. A

slice shot. Very nicely done. It is even shorter than the first line

which is a nice indication. This is a good rally. It is. She is

putting herself in trouble there. That is where she has got to be

strong. Punch another clear, don't open up so she has that diagonal.

As soon as she played that crosscourt, all Walker had to do was

play the straight block, and Cann had to run the longest diagonal on

the court. A good, attacking smash. Good play

by Elizabeth Cann. But there were two very nice punch

clears from Elizabeth Cann in this rally. Going back to my point,

putting on the pressure, towards the base line.

This is developing into not only an intriguing battle but a physical

battle as well, isn't it? Yes, I think you are right. That is

where I possibly think age will come into it. Let us see. So far,

Elizabeth Cann has done really well in this first half of the second

game. Mid-game interval, with the

advantage. Two point advantage. it all, Nathan Robertson was

suggesting the punch clear around the head corner. Yes. He said that

the reverse like crop shot from Sarah Walker is not her strongest,

and therefore she could move up on the front court and try to get early

on the tape on the forehand side. That is it. That is the one I have

been looking for for a long time. The pledge clear into the deep

forehand corner. This is a beauty. Very good play.

There seemed to be a nice switch in the direction of attack. Yes, it

worked well. Sarah Walker is not quick enough with her racket skills

to get into position. That is disastrous. I am sorry to

say. A service fault called again. Once

again, the same. It is so correct. It is very good judging. I agree

totally. You did not see that in the first

game. She has listened to me! It is good. Really forcing herself

underneath that one. Smashing it crosscourt.

Four points, the advantage now. And just four points needed for the

second game. close to making it, emphasises the

point you were making at the end of the opening game, about playing

people that you used to train with, you were former team mates, you know

them terribly well, you are the favourite to win, all the pressure

is on you. It is not an easy situation.

She missed it. She is definitely nervous and I suspect. She was not

missing with her attacking play in the first. She was not. That is

going wide as well. Suddenly, a lot of mistakes are creeping in.

Definitely, she feels the pressure now. The insecurities creeping into

her game. The English national champion needed

a run of points. If ever she did, it is right now. With that going along,

it means that Elizabeth Cann has five opportunities to close out this

second and send it to a decider. That is good play by Walker. Never

give up. There is still the possibility. It is only four points.

It still can be done. Believe in yourself.

The look of the net cord. Everybody needs a bit of luck at times. She

earned her own luck there, she took it early. Next time, she should not

smash the back can decide, either body or crosscourt. Go for the

forehand. Three times, she has been smashing down there. DMA. It did not

work, and what a way to finish a game. That is disappointing. Nobody

will be more disappointed than Sarah Walker herself. An error on serve.

It means that Elizabeth Cann takes the second game, 21-17. It is 1-1.

I wonder if the fact she has been called a fault on her serve twice

previously made her a bit nervous. A bit more variation. She is just

waiting for the shots. We need to make a guess. You have got so much

more to offer. This third round match, beautifully

poised. Sarah Walker, the number seven seed from England, she took

the first, 21-14, Elizabeth Cann, the bronze medallist from four years

ago, fighting back to take the second, 21-17. Everything to play

for in the deciding game. It is just wide. I hope everybody

could hear what the England coaches were saying, but just reiterate the

point that Peter Jeffrey was making to Sarah Walker. Take a deep

breath! Sarah is having more options when it

comes to technical skills. He wants her to use it more. And not just

play clear and smashes. Obviously, if you can control it, that would be

lovely. The problem is that if you are nervous and you want to venture

into more exotic shots, suddenly, more mistakes are creeping in. It is

a very difficult fine line. As we saw from the last rally, with

Elizabeth Cann rushing play the back and kill, Elizabeth Cann has

confidence that we did not see so much of in the opening game, and I

wonder if she is going to take one or two risks to try to exploit the

nervousness of her opponent. I would do so. Me too. So far, a very good

start by Sarah Walker. I think she is keeping it together well.

Was that frustration afterwards, or was that some sort of pain? I am

sure it is sheer frustration. That is all right! I thought for a

ghastly moment she may have heard herself. She's OK.

It is set up beautifully at the Emirates Arena. We are going over to

BBC1 in a few moments, or you will not miss a single point from this

enthralling match between Sarah Walker and Elizabeth Cann.

We are heading to BBC1 in a moment. Before we do that, let's pop to

Jonathan Edwards, who is watching the men's time trial.

At the moment, the Rwandan is leading, but in truth, the crowd

loving it. Somebody coming through now, these advertising hoardings are

useful for something. The conditions are good. There is something almost

sadistic about this, it is called the race of truth, riders digging

deep into their soul, pushing themselves to the limit, which is

what we expect to see when David Mellor comes through, Alex Dowsett,

Rohan Dennis, he is the real favourite. But at the moment, it is

dry, the sun is sort of out, so it is set for what should be a

fantastic time trial. We will go back to Jonathan at the

time trial later, over on BBC1. Do join us there. You can watch every

single sport on our website. And, of course, full coverage on BBC Radio

five Live. On the red button, the live coverage continues, there is

squash right now. And comedy coverage on the red button. Do join

us on BBC1 in a few moments. Goodbye for now.

And it's about time that I did something about that.