Commonwealth Games: Day seven of competition

ALL THE NEWS, ACTION AND REACTION LIVE FROM GLASGOW 2014 AS IT HAPPENS!

By Paul Osborne, Gary Anderson, Nick Butler and Duncan Mackay in Glasgow
Click refresh for latest updates. All times stated are British

Good night!

23:28 So far, 172 of the 261 medal events have been decided. There are 25 gold medals up for grabs tomorrow, including the men's 800m which features Kenya's Olympic champion David Rudisha against Botswana's Nijel Amos, who finished second behind him at London 2012, in what could be the best event of the whole of Glasgow 2014.

We will be back at 09:00 to preview that race and bring you all the other action during day eight of these fabulous Commonwealth Games.

23:22 England have enjoyed a good day and surged ahead at the top of the medals table and now have a total of 106 medals. That is one behind Australia's total but are ahead by virtue of having 38 gold to Australia's 35.

23:18 On such an historic note it seems an appropriate place to finish for tonight.

Kiribati history-maker lauds coach Coffa, godfather of Oceania weightlifting

23:06 Katoatau is the second gold medal-winning weightlifter at these Commonwealth Games coached by Australian Paul Coffa, the Australian who is widely credited with helping develop the sport so much in the Pacific Islands. Last night Papua New Guinea's Steven Kukuna Kari had won the gold medal in the 94kg category.

Coffa has now seen seven of his charges at the Oceania Federation in New Caledonia win medals at Glasgow 2014. Katoatau danced his way off the platform and ran to lift Coffa in celebration of his victory. "I like dancing and singing," said Katoatau. Coffa warned, though, there it would cost Katoatau. "For this dance on the platform, he will have to pay," he said.

"I feel so happy. I'm so proud. I want to thank my coach and his wife. I want to thank the people of my country and the Oceania Weightlifting Institute. It shows that you should never give up and keep training. I will have a big party when I get home. "
- Katoatau comes to terms with his ground-breaking victory.

22:54 Some facts and figures on David Katoatau's historic victory in the 105kg weightlifting. Kiribati are the 57th Commonwealth Games Association to win a medal and the 46th to claim gold. They are the first new country to win a medal since Grenada at Melbourne 2006. In a nice piece of symmetry Grenada tonight also won their first gold medal thanks to Kirani James in the 400m (see 20:34)

22:30 There is one more medal to tell you about tonight and it is another gold for England thanks to Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree, who have won England's second gold of the opening day of the diving.

They clinched victory in the women's synchronised 3m springboard ahead of Canada's Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware, who claimed silver, and bronze went to Australia's Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith.

Blagg and Gallantree scored a high of 72.54 for their fifth and final dive - a forward 3 1/2 somersault - to take gold with a total of 300.24.

Abel and Ware scored 295.65, while Keeney and Smith managed 294.72.

22:29 More on Katoatau's amazing achievement. He turned 30 six days before these Games opened on July 23. He had narrowly missed a medal at Delhi 2010 when he finished fourth and was heavily tipped to win a medal here.

Katoatau carried Kiribati's flag at the Opening Ceremony here, having also done the same in the Indian capital four years ago. At London 2012 he had become the first athlete from his country to quality for the Olympics without needing a wildcard.

His victory is sure to be celebrated wildly on Kiribati - the former Gilbert Islands - which occupy a vast area in the Pacific. They stretch nearly 4,000km from east to west, more than 2,000km from north to south, and straddle the Equator.

The country won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Many of the atolls are inhabited; and most of them are very low-lying and at risk from rising sea levels.

Perhaps Kiribati's main claim to fame is that it used to lie either side of the International Date Line, but the Government unilaterally moved the line eastwards in 1995 to ensure the day was the same in the whole country.

This was a shrewd move as Kiribati marketed itself as the first inhabited place on earth to greet the new millennium on January 1, 2000. The world's media descended on Caroline Island, renamed Millennium Island, to record the event.

"That result for Valerie Adams in the women's shot put will not have come as a surprise for those with knowledge of the Kiwi's incredible record at major Championships. As well as becoming a three time Commonwealth Games champion, after wins in Delhi 2010 and Melbourne 2006, the New Zealander is also a double Olympic champion, four-time world champion and three-time world indoor champion. She currently holds the New Zealand, Oceanian, Commonwealth and equal World Championship records with a personal best throw of 21.24m.

Not, only that, Adams is one of only nine atheltes - along with Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels and David Storl - to win World Championship titles at the youth, junior and senior levels.

Ohh, and she also secured New Zealand's 600th medal at the Commonwealth Games. Quite the athlete is Valerie Adams..."
- Reporter Paul Osborne with all the stats you need to know on Valerie Adams

22:11 Gold for Claudia Fragapane in the all around gymnastics in an England clean sweep. She does it in style with 14.733 in the floor, the best score of the night, to win ahead of Ruby Harrold and Hannah Whelan.

22:08 Closing stages of the gymnastics now. Canada's Elllie Black goes into third behind England's Ruby Harrold and Hannah Whelan. But Claudia Fragapane can still win this. She needs a score of 13.833 on the floor to do that...

History at the Clyde Auditorium as Kiribati win first ever Commonwealth medal

What a moment for the Pacific Island! It merit our first double flag of the Games!!

22:04 And its gold! What a performance from David Katoatau of Kiribati as he becomes the tiny island's fist ever Commonwealth Games medallist and he does it by taking gold with a superb lift of 200kg in the clean and jerk for a total score of 348kg.

New Zealander Stanislav Chalaev takes silver while bronze goes to Ben Watson of England.

Historic gold medal for Grenada

21:58 Kirani James' gold medal in the 400m final was a first for Grenada since they made their debut at the 1970 Games in Edinburgh.

Their first-ever medal had also come in the 400m, a silver from Alleyne Francique at Melbourne 2006. "But this is now their second medal in consecutive days following the bronze won in the decathlon last night Kurt Felix.

Kirani James' time of 44.24 knocked 0.28 seconds off of the former 400m Commonwealth Games record, set by Wales' Iwan Thomas at Kuala Lumpur 1998.

"Next time I will bring my own weapons and not rely on what someone has said. I should have trusted myself"
- Don't worry, Norfolk Island bowler Carmen Anderson is not auditioning for a role in the next 'Death Wish' movie. She is talking about her bowls.

Wins for New Zealand and Australia in the field

21:51 New Zealand's Valerie Adams wins gold in the women's shot put! The Kiwi was a head above the rest of the field with four of her six attempts enough to seal the gold.

It's the second attempt that will go in the history books, however, with 19.88m her winning score.

Trinidad and Tobago's Cleopatra Borel comes in second with a throw of 18.57m while Canada's Julie Labonte takes the bronze.

21:44 It's all over in the women's javelin and Kim Mickle takes the gold with her Commonwealth Games record throw of 65.96m.

The Australian set the bar earlier, breaking back to back Games records to finish more than two metres ahead of South Africa's Sunnette Viljoen.

Fellow Aussie, Kelsey-Lee Roberts, finished in third with her throw of 62.95m.

21:36 Action is hotting up now in the gymnastics, with three of the four routines in the second sub-division having been completed. England's Ruby Harrold has posted the best score in the uneven bars and vault but was only tenth in the beam.

Compatriot Hannah Whelan has top-scored in the beam and she is also in contention, as is a third English-woman, Claudia Fragapane. Elisabeth Black of Canada appears most likely to poop the party...

Remember, of the gymnasts who have completed their four apparatus, the leader is Emma White of Scotland. She is not going to stay there, though.

Diving reaction to the men's 1m final

"It has been my dream since I was a kid"
- England's Jack Laugher following his victory in the 1m springboard.
Quote marks

"It matches my complexion so I'm not complaining"
- Australia's Matthew Mitcham puts a positive spin on his silver medal in the 1m springboard

Australian head coach suspended after criticising team captain Pearson

21:25 An update on a story we brought you earlier. Athletics Australia has suspended head coach Eric Hollngsworth after he criticised Olympic 100m hurdles champion and team captain Sally Pearson.

The English-born Hollingsworth, a former decathlete who used to train with Daley Thompson, had claimed Pearson's failure to attend the team's pre-Commonwealth Games camp had set a bad example for the rest of the team.
Athletics Australia President David Grace QC released a statement condemning Hollingsworth for the fact he said anything, for what he said about Person in particular, and for the timing of what he said.

Grace said Hollingsworth had defied specific instruction from Athletics Australia chief executive Dallas O'Brien in choosing to issue a media release through a public relations advisor.

He has been suspended without pay by AA pending further action when the board can met to consider the matter.

Speaking after the governing body's decision to stand down the high performance head coach, Australia's Chef de Mission in Glasgow, Steve Moneghetti, said that "helping athletes produce their best performances" remained his number one priority.
He added: "We have athletes in action tonight at various venues around Glasgow and it is my role to ensure that those athletes are given every opportunity to perform at their absolute best.

"Coaches play an intricate part in that process and the Australian Commonwealth Games team is all about supporting our athletes' preparation and performance."
London 2012 Olympic champion Pearson is due to begin the defence of her Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles title tmorrmow. The main point of division is her decision to skip a pre-tournament training camp in Glasgow to instead race in London.
"We had a good working relationship for nearly a decade, but she decided my challenging style wasn't what she was looking for, which is her prerogative," said Hollingsworth.

21:19 We have found some Clydes...and he has been hiding right under our noses. There are still some left in the shop in the Main Press Centre! That is the good news. Bad news is that it is closed so we can't get our hands on him...

"Seeing as we appear to be doubling up as the new Rolling Stone magazine as well bringing you the most comprehensive coverage of everything that happens at Glasgow 2014, I feel like I need to join in with my colleagues on the musical theme tonight. The problem is that my knowledge of music only extends to knowing that if I hear a song I like I begin to bop along. That is all..."
- Reporter Gary Anderson offers a new take on the insidethegames musical obsession...

21:10 In more good news for England. They have become the second nation at these Games to top the 100-medals barrier. But they are top of the pile as far as golden ones are concerned, as you can see here.

Gold for Rutherford in long jump

21:02 On a more serious note, slightly, Rutherford spoke in December about how he was targeting the Commonwealth Games after a disappointing 2013 campaign. It has turned into a good target. Read our article at the time.

Rutherford is the fifth Englishman to win this event, and the last since Nathan Morgan at Manchester 2002. He is also the first current Olympic champion in men's long jump to win the same event at the subsequent Commonwealth Games since Lynn Davies managed it at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics and then Kingston 1966.

#gregrutherford is the Barney Stinson of the long jump. He is LEGEN...wait for it...DARY! Legendary! Well done. #Glasgow2014
- Stephen Temlett on the latest sporting and acting lookalike.

For those who do not know, Barney Stinson is a fictional character in the the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris. One of the main characters of the show, Barney is known to enjoy being single, wearing suits, and playing laser tag. He is a pickup artist, using different techniques and ideas to have sex with women, which is one of the show's central themes. But we believe that it Ruterhford's uncanny likeness to Barney that prompted the tweet rather than any of these. Have a look for yourself...

"It's medal ceremony time here at Hampden Park and huge cheers go up as England's Greg Rutherford takes to the top step. It's a special moment for the Englishman as he wins gold inside the same Stadium his great grandfather, Jock Rutherford, set a world-record when playing for England in a football fixture against the Scots. That game saw a world-record attendance of 121,452 as the sides drew 1-1."
- Reporter Paul Osborne on a special moment for Greg Rutherford.

20:53 Emma White from Scotland leads after sub-division one of the women's all around gymnastics final. Second as Brittany Robertson of New Zealand, and in third place is Georgia Rose Brown of Australia.

Some of the big names, including the England team, have now entered the competition.

"The halfway point in the men's 105kg weightlifting has been reached here at a packed Clyde Auditorium and it is England's Benjamin Watson who is pole position after the snatch. Watson lifted 157kg with his third attempt after registering 147kg and 152kg with his first two efforts. Delhi 2010 silver medal winner New Zealand's Stanislav Chalaev is in the silver medal spot at this early stage once again with an effort of 155kg which has been matched by Ivorn McKnee of Barabados but Chalaev has the advantage as he is the lighter man among giants here. Defending champion Faavae Faauliuli of Samoa is struggling back on 125kg after failing with his third attempt at 130kg. The clean and jerk is about to begin."
- Reporter Gary Anderson at the weightlifting.

20:46 I have been boring my colleagues with this story already, but when on holiday in Grenada in 2008, our taxi-driver decided to take an impromptu detour to show us the house of a young 400m runner who was going "to dominate the world" and put the "spice island" on the map. Kirani James was 15 then and has certainly lived up to that billing. World champion in 2011, Olympic champion in 2012 and Commonwealth champion in 2014. It is also for the first medal of the Games for Grenada.

20:43 "Ohhhh Kim what have you done?" Such is the call from the announcer at Hampden Park as Kim Mickle smashes the javelin Games record, set just minutes ago in her opening throw, with a second attempt throw of 65.97m. That's two throws, two records. Bring on the third!

20:39 After the Media Mile earlier, an impromptu netball match has now broken out between the volunteers following the end of today's session.

20:34 And it's a Games record for James as he takes gold! The Grenadian surged clear down the home straight to cross home in 44.24.

South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk finishes second in 44.68 with Trinidad and Tobago's Lalonde Gordon in third.

20:32 Now time for the men's 400m final! Grenadan Flagbearer Kirani James has got to be the favourite here. No Chris Brown of the Bahamas, however, with reporter Paul Osborne left speculating whether he is off recording a new hit single...

"England have beaten Barbados 69-27 and will now set to forward their semi-final against New Zealand, who are chasing a record third consecutive victory. Both them and England, along with Australia and Jamaica, who will meet in the other semi-final, will have a few days off before they resume action on Sunday. The four countries in the semi-final have shared all the medals since netball was introduced to the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur in 1998. Australia beat New Zealand there and at Manchester 2002. New Zealand beat Australia at Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010. England won the bronze medal in 1998, 2006 and 2010, while Jamaica claimed it in 2002. England leave to the applause of the crowd and the strains of Oasis' 'Wonderwall', with its opening line, 'Today is gonna be the day'. They will certainly be hoping that is the case against New Zealand in three days time."
- Editor Duncan Mackay on an oasis of action at the netball. Sorry...

20:24 It's all go now at Hampden Park as the women's javelin final takes to the field. Australia's Kim Mickle is third to throw and sets a Commonwealth Games record of 62.97m! Exciting times at the athletics!

Canada's Brianne Theisen-Eaton and England's Greg Rutherford take golds

20:22 The Canadian was miles ahead in points coming into the final event, the 800m, but why not win that one as well?

She crossed the line in 2:.11.46 to cement here gold, ahead of team mate Jessica Zelinka, who, incidentally, came second overall. England's Jessica Taylor just did enough in the 800m to pip Jamaica's Salcia Slack for bronze.

20:18 Olympic champion turned Commonwealth champion, England's Greg Rutherford takes gold in the men's long jump. His third attempt jump of 8.20m was enough to seal the win as South Africa's Zarck Visser falls short at 8.12m. Visser's compatriot, Rushwahl Samaai seals the bronze with a 8.08m.

Evening action all over Glasgow

"I can't help but be concerned that England's netballers will be missing one powerful weapon in their armoury when they take part in the semi-finals. A nickname. New Zealand are the 'Silver Ferns', Australia the 'Diamonds' and Jamaica the 'Sunshine Girls'. A quick straw poll of the media area has come up with the 'Lionesses' or the 'Roses'. I am not sure either do the team justice. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?"
- Editor Duncan Mackay has spotted a gaping hole in England's netball preparations. Tweet @insidethegames if you have any ideas. Or comment below.

Pole vault legend turned IOC Executive Board member arrives in Glasgow

I'm glad to attend Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Really nice atmosphere!
- Sergey Bubka ‏has arrived in Glasgow in plenty of time for the men's pole vault final, taking place on Saturday (August 1).

20:09 Here is the Ukrainian with Dr M. Jegathesan, the Malaysian who is the Honorary Medical Advisor of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Oh, and with a certain mascot...

Sergey Bubka with Clyde the Mascot ©Twitter

Sergey Bubka with Clyde the Mascot ©Twitter

20:03 Roars from the home crowd here in the Hydro Arena as Emma White of Scotland leads on 51.532 points as we come towards the end of the first sub-division of the women's all around final.

Nick Butler

"They seem to have turned the music down here today, it is reverberating quietly in the background rather than dominating proceedings like we saw here last night. And then it stops altogether as the floor segments begin. But some good numbers I haven't yet heard here in Glasgow, ranging from 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division to 'Why Don't You?' by Serbian DJ Gramophonedzie. The latter song, that samples Peggy Lee's 1947 version of the 1936 song 'Why Don't You Do Right?' reminds me of my university years, for some reason... Wednesday nights at Fabio's, on the off chance any readers are familiar with the rather limited nightlife of Durham University..."
- Reporter Nick Butler is the latest to start reminiscing about musical memories...

Good evening for Canada continues with high jump victory

19:57 Canada's Derek Drouin takes high jump gold! Cyprus' Kyriakos Ioannou fails twice at 2.31m and once again at 2.33m, handing the gold to the Canadian after he succeeded at 2.31m on the second attempt.

With gold already in the bank, Drouin sets his sights at the Commonwealth Games record as he moves the bar to 2.37m.

Another Canadian, Michael Mason, takes the bronze.

19:53 It may have been mostly a cause for English rather than Australian celebrations, but the silver and bronze medals won by Matthew Mitcham and Grant Nel in the 1m springboard diving earlier marked Australia's 100th and 101st medals in the sport at the Commonwealth Games. Canada still lead in the overall stakes with 109 medals but failed to reach the podium in this event for only the second time ever.

Winner Laugher meanwhile, became at 19 the second youngest winner of the event, behind Alexandre Despatie of Canada, who won it aged 17 at Manchester 2002.

More on the confirmation that Kylie will perform at the Closing Ceremony

"I have happy memories of watching Kylie perform at the Closing Ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Her career was a bit in the doldrums then but her brilliant performance at those Games reminded everyone of why they love Kylie so much. I remember dancing along in the media tribune to her version of Abba's Dancing Queen. She then followed it with On A Night Like This, at that time an unknown Kylie number as it had only been released three weeks earlier. Now, of course, it is a classic. I always like to tell people that I was there the night Kylie's career was reborn."
- Editor Duncan Mackay reminiscing about Kylie's performance at Sydney 2000. This is her at that very ceremony, singing "Dancing Queen".

First athletics gold medal of the evening goes to Kenya

19:46 Another Kenyan one, two, three on the track as Purity Kirui takes gold in the steeplechase!

The three Kenyans surged around the final corner but it was just a two-horse race come the final 20m with Kirui and Cheywa battling for the gold. Kirui had the legs, however, as she surged through to finish in 9.30.96. Cheywa settles for silver whilst Joan Kipkemoi takes bronze.

19:45 A gap has opened in the women's 3,000m steeplechase as we come into the final lap. It's the Kenyan trio that lead followed by Australia's Madeline Heiner and Genevieve Lacaze.

It's the halfway point in the men's long jump, meanwhile, and England's Greg Rutherford currently leads after a third attempt jump of 8.20m. He's followed by the South African duo of Zarck Visser and Rushwahl Samaai.

19:41 Time for some track action now at Hampden Park as athlete's take to the line for the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Huge cheers go up for Scotland's Lennie Waite and Eilish McCologan. They'll have a tough time fending off the Kenyan trio of Purity Cherotich Mikui, Milcha Chemos Cheywa and Joan Kipkemoi.

"At half-time England's netballers are leading Barbados 34-13. It has got be thinking whether there is a better quality event at these Commonwealth Games than netball? The four semi-finalists - Australia, New Zealand, England and Jamaica - are the four top-ranked teams in the world. While that is good for this event, the fact the 24 leading teams in the world are all from the Commonwealth is surely not helping the sport's ambitions to one day become an Olympic sport. How they need a country like the United States - ranked 29th in the latest International Netball Federation rankings - to break through and really make an impression."
- Editor Duncan Mackay is impressed by the quality of the netball action. Rugby sevens and lawn bowls are the only two that would rival netball for quality, I feel.

19:36 Time for some track action now at Hampden Park as athlete's take to the line for the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Huge cheers go up for Scotland's Lennie Waite and Eilish McCologan. They'll have a tough time fending off the Kenyan trio of Purity Cherotich Mikui, Milcha Chemos Cheywa and Joan Kipkemoi.

Kylie confirmed for Closing Ceremony

19:33 Talking of music, Glasgow 2014 have confirmed the worst kept secret of these Games. Kylie Minogue is set to headline the Closing Ceremony at Hampden Park on Sunday. Just 18 hours after the conclusion of the track and field competition Hampden Park 'will be transformed into a stage to bring the curtain down on Glasgow and Scotland's amazing Games with over 160 tonnes of staging, over 3000 props, 454 flags and the promise of a night out not to be missed in what athletes and spectators have described as one of the world's friendliest cities,' Scottish officials are promising.

Kylie Minogue performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games ©Getty Images

Kylie Minogue performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games ©Getty Images

Iconic international pop super star Kylie is one of the most successful and widely loved performing artists in the world and the pop princess has been topping the charts since beginning her career in 1987,' officials gushes. 'She has released 45 singles and sold 68 million records worldwide. This year Kylie released her 12th studio album, Kiss Me Once, and will soon embark on a 33 date tour, proving that 2014 has all the signs of being Kylie's best year yet.'

The Australian pop princess will be joined by Scottish legend Lulu, who entertained the crowds at Glasgow Green during the Opening Ceremony. Hailing from Glasgow, Lulu has since topped the charts in every decade, both as a solo artist and collaborating with some of the finest talents of our time.

Deacon Blue - one of Scotland's most famous and successful bands with six million album sales, 12 UK top forty singles and two number one albums - will also take to the stage.

Incredible to believe that The Proclaimers nor Franz Ferdinand are not participating bearing in mind how much they have been played at the venues during Glasgow 2014.

Evening sporting action on day seven

"In the SECC for England's Pool B netball encounter against Barbados, a match which is a dead rubber because of South Africa's 64-40 defeat to world champions Australia earlier. That meant England could not finish lower than second and already know they will meet New Zealand in the semi-final. The other semi-final will be Australia against Jamaica. At the end of the first quarter England 19-7 up against Barbados in the netball. Very disappointed at the lack of music so far. Even The Proclaimers and Franz Ferdinand would be better than nothing."
- Editor Duncan Mackay on a good start for England in the netball.

First diving gold goes to Laugher of England

19:27 Jack Laugher of England has won the 1m springboard diving gold after superbly dominant performance.

The 19-year-old was in a different league to the rest of the field. His total score after six dives was 449.90. In comparison, second-placed Australian Matt Mitcham managed 404.85 while fellow Australian Grant Nel scored 403.40 for bronze.

19:23 In the first sub-division here at the Hydro Arena, Georgia Rose Brown of Australia leads after three of four rotations in the first sub-division. Claudia Cummins of South Africa lies second, but most of the big names are still to come.

19:20 So the insidethegames team are well and truly out an about this evening - at the netball, weightlifting, gymnastics and athletics, as well as on the Clyde the Mascot Trail.

"After watching Canada claim three gold medals in wrestling, I have now hot-footed over to the Clyde Auditorium to catch the men's 105kg weightlifters battle for Commonwealth gold.
The athletes are getting pumped and so is the fast-filling arena for what should be an exciting night of power and passion.
Action gets underway shortly."
- Reporter Gary Anderson has swapped his grappling for his weights

19:14 High jumping final is underway with Cameroon's Fernand Djoumessi Temfack among the early starters.

"In the SECC for England's Pool B netball encounter against Barbados, a match which is a dead rubber because of South Africa's 64-40 defeat to world champions Australia earlier. That meant England could not finish lower than second and already know they will meet New Zealand in the semi-final. The other semi-final will be Australia against Jamaica."
- Editor Duncay Mackay is on the netball trail this evening. New Zealand will be a really tough semi-final for England, I feel...

First diving final heading the way of Laugher

19:07 And Laugher is now almost 50 points clear of Mitcham after a superb sixth dive, his penultimate one.

19:00 Jack Laugher is closing in on the gold medal in the men's 1m springboard diving. He is now almost 30 points clear at the top of the leaderboard as Aussie Matthew Mitcham moves into second, after Grant Nel slips back.

Evening session getting underway with double gold for Nigeria

Action has just begun in the evening session here at Hampden Park and it's the turn of the jumpers at the minute. Out in the field we have the men's long jump finals kicking off with England's Greg Rutherford currently ahead in the early stages of that. There's also action from the men's high jump where all competitiors have safely navigated themselves over the 2.16m metre mark. Over on the opposite side of the Stadium the women's heptathlon javelin throw competition is nearing its conclusion with Canada's Jessica Zelinka has thrown the furthest with a distance of 44.90m. Her compatriot Brianne Theisen-Eaton leads the competition overall.
- Reporter Paul Osborne provides the first update of the evening from Hampden Park. He hasn't left since the Media Mile. I'm beginning to think he might don his running shoes again and try and join in later on, maybe in the 3,000m steeplechase, after getting a taste for competition earlier...

Clyde the Mascot selling out fast

18:51 A latest update of sales of Clyde the Mascot from John Lewis, courtesy of insidethegames managing director Sarah Bowron now, who has dashed across the city to find that only £30 and £100 Clydes are left in stock...

You'd better be quick.

It is remarkable how popular the mascot has been. Someone mentioned Clyde earlier and I was looking around for a green thistle, only to find that they meant the river... I had forgotten the name could be shared by anything else...

England diving clear on the medals table?

18:45 We still have this scarcely believable battle on the medals table, with Australia and England locked on 34 gold medals apiece. England lead by virtue of having garnered three more silver medals that their rivals, but actually trail by four golds overall.

But they could edge further ahead as Jack Laugher takes the lead with a superb third-round dive in the 1m springboard final. He currently boasts a score of 215 points, so comfortably clear of Aussie pair Grant Nel, who is on 202.50, and Matt Mitcham, on 201.55.

Mitcham remember, won 10m platform gold for Australia at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the only non-Chinese diver to triumph there. I guess in terms of time in the air, this is the Twenty20 event, whereas 10m diving is more like a Test match. Albeit a two second rather than a five-day one.

18:38 Wrestling gold number three for Canada as Dori Yeats takes the women's under 69kg freestyle class with another quickfire display to totally outclass Angele Tomo of Cameroon.

Canada emerge as the top nation in today's wrestling action followed by Nigeria who crown two Commonwealth champions.

And India finally claimed a medal much to the disappointment of the majority inside the arena as Navjot Navjot Kaur comfortably beat Sarah Jones of Scotland while the other bronze goes to Nigerian Hannah Rueben who overcame Refilwe Molongwana of South Africa.

18:34 "What better way to start tonight's action than with a gymnast from Scoootttllllannndd," cries the announcer at the Hydro Arena. Indeed. Amy Regan is up first in the uneven bars for the host nation as the women's all around final gets underway.

18:29 Some redemption of Nigeria following the disappointment of Chika Amalaha failing a drugs test and facing being stripped of her under 53kg gold medal. The latest winner, Usman, carried the country's flag at the Opening Ceremony last week. Gosh, that all seems a long time ago now.

18:24 And that weightlifting result is now confirmed. Maryam Usman wins gold for Nigeria in the women's over 75kg category with an overall score of 280kg to beat reigning champion Ele Opeloge of Samoa into second place.

New Zealand's Tracey Lambrechs takes the bronze.

"This is the happiest I've ever been. Everything I've trained for has come to this. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me."
- Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria reacts to her under 58kg gold medal in women's freestyle wrestling.

18:16 Final stages of the women's under 75kg weightlifting, and could we have more Nigerian gold in order. Current leader is Maryam Usman of the west African country. It's been a good afternoon for them...

Action also going on in boxing, not to mention many of the racket and team sports. Oh and here, at the Hydro Arena, the announcer is stirring the crowd into a frenzy as they take their seats for the women's individual all around final.

"Massive shout out to Scottish Rail for making an announcement on the PA and completely embarrassing me and Kate Avery at Argyle St Station!"
- Scottish 10,000m runner Beth Potter, who finished fifth with Avery fourth in the final last night, on the train-lines embracing the Commonwealth spirit.

18:12 We are underway in the diving, which is taking place not in Glasgow, but at the appropriately named Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. Up tonight is the non-Olympic 1 metre springboard competition.

England's Jack Laugher qualified in first place this morning and will be going for gold. He will be diving last.

18:05 Arjun Gill takes Canada's second gold of the night in the 97kg freestyle division after a contest that went the full two rounds.

Satywart Kadian of India provide stiff opposition for the Canadian and with the scores tied at 4-4 the result was awarded to Gill by the judges meaning India has now lost every gold medal match on the second day of action on the mat so far.

In the first match to go into a second round, England's Leon Rattigan eventually over powered his Nigerian opponent Soso Tamarau 12-2 for bronze while Northern Ireland's Hugh McCloskey proves no match for Sam Belkin of New Zealand, as the Kiwi takes bronze on a score of 10-0.

"I have got to stick to cutting my grass and not worry about how green everybody else's is"
- Perhaps England's Olympic flyweight boxing champion Nicola Adams has ambitions to be a horticulturalist as she assesses her progress so far at Glasgow 2014

17:58 A quick hockey update to bring you know, and South Africa's women have edged India 3-2 to book their place in the last four as they finish second in Pool A. So they will face the tough challenge of Australia in the first semi-final, while England will play New Zealand in the other.

"A quick update as I have been relatively quiet on the reporting front today. A great honour to be able to run on the Hampden Park track in the Media Mile earlier, where great Scottish footballers as well as the best athletes of the Commonwealth have stepped out in recent times. As for the race, the less about that the better. To use an old proverb, I started slow and got slower after that. But it was great fun nonetheless and, for the record, we were not asked to provide doping samples afterwards. Back in the SECC Precinct for the gymnastics now as England bid to continue their 100 per cent artistic record so far. And you'd be brave to bet against them..."
- Reporter Nick Butler on an eventful afternoon on day seven.

17:53 We're in that funny interlude time now between the afternoon and evening sessions. Action in athletics and women's gymnastics will get underway soon, but there is much going on elsewhere, particularly in wrestling, where the latest glut of medal matches are now going on.

17:45 After Jamaica's loss to New Zealand in this morning's netball match, it's the turn of Scotland to take to the court as they face a home nations clash with Northern Ireland.

The Scots currently hold a slender lead at 21-18.

Barbados versus England will follow at around 19:00.

Since 2012, the all-around has been a massive target for me, so to pull it off and for it to all come together on the day is amazing.
I wasn't paying much attention to the scores. The main aim is full clean routines and that's what I've managed to do.
I like to do that in every competition. Part of the reason is to give myself more experience. The whole idea for me is to make it as good as it can be before Rio.
- Max Whitlock after winning gold in the men's individual all-around gymnastics event.

17:30 Aminat Adeniyi beats the mat in celebration as she secures Nigeria's second wrestling gold of the day, in the under 58kg category, with a comprehensive 10-0 win over Sakshi Malik.

The Nigerian team and small band of supporters are making the SECC their own as they cheer on another Commonwealth victory.

The bronze medals have gone to Braxton Rei Stone of Canada and New Zealand's Tayla Ford who both secured 4-0 wins over Edwige Ngono Eyia of Cameroon and England's Sarah Grundy.

That's Africa two and North America one so far.

Clydegate (take two)

17:15 Away from sport for a minute and we've had a crisis involving Clyde.

After revealing the excellent sales figures of the cuddly Clyde mascot, it appears that the George Square main merchandising shop has ran out of the 15cm and 25cm Clyde's with just the large £100 mascot's still on the shelves.

After bringing us this tragic news, insidethegames managing director Sarah Bowron has dashed off to John Lewis to check their stock of the smaller, yet just as hearty, mascot.

There's also news that the pop up shop at the Buchanan Galleries has disappeared...

Grave stuff indeed. We'll bring you all the latest as and when it comes.

I trained hard and prayed to God.
(My coach said) don't rush it, stay calm and one attack will be enough. And it ended in a KO.
- Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye after her gold in the women's 53kg wrestling competition.

16:58 More gold action at the wrestling here David Tremblay of Canada proves too strong for Indian Bajrang Bajrang as a series of slick and quick scoring moves sees him take gold in the under 61kg category on a score of 12-1.

Viorel Etko instigates the now familiar refrain of 500 miles from The Proclaimers as he secures bronze with a win over Malta's Adam Vella.

Sasha Madyarchyk of England could not match his Scottish counterpart as he loses 14-4 to Nigeria's Daniel Amas.

16:50 For those of you interested, and I know most of you are, Glasgow 2014 have just this minute released details of the top 10 best selling merchandise from the Games so far.

Leading the way, of course, is everybody's favourite thistle, Clyde, who has been snapped 46,000 times by the public.

Men's tee-shirts also seem a big hit in Glasgow with 34,000 being sold to date, while around 30,000 ever-popular pin badges have been sold.

Following a question asked in this morning's press brief by one of our own here at insidethegames, i must bring the unfortunate news that details of the Glasgow 2014 haggis' have not been released, however, I promise further investigations will be made into that.

16:44 Three falls and three medals!

The wrestling action has burst into life as all three matches in the women's 53kg category where settled with quick-fire falls.

Nigerian Odunayo Adekuoroye takes the gold with a win over Lalita Lalita of India.

Shannon Hawke got a rousing reception despite going down to South Africa's Mpho Madi while Canada's Jill Gallays overcomes Christelle Lemofack Letchidjio.

These two latter contests were, of course, for bronze with two bronze medals awarded in the wrestling

"After taking over blogging duties while my colleagues were providing the rest of the massed ranks of the world's media with a much needed laugh as they struggled around Hampden's Park's athletics track, I have made my way to the wrestling session in the SECC where five weight categories will be decided.
The women's 53kg, 58kg and 69kg freestyle medals will be handed out as will the men's 51kg and 97kg classes. No doubt the loudest cheers will be reserved for the home athletes Shannon Hawke, Viorel Etko and Sarah Jones who are all going for bronze."
- Reporter Gary Anderson clocks in at the SECC for tonight's wrestling finals.

Call for head guards

16:30 Australian boxer Daniel Lewis has called for a reintroduction of the head guard after being ruled out of his quarter-final encounter with India's Mandeep Jangra this morning following a medical.

Lewis had suffered a badly cut eye during his previous bout with Nigeria's Kehinde Ademuyiwa and, after his injury did not sufficiently heal, he was told he could not compete by the medics at the SECC.

The disappointed 21-year-old immediately took to social media to express his frustration at the end of his gold medal chances.

He said: "For all these people debating about headgear for amateurs, bring the headgear back 100 per cent. When you have to fight five times in a week this shit ruins people's dreams."

"My journey is over. Got up at 6am this morning to lose weight. I made it and was ready to go to war only to be told by the doctor my journey is over. They won't let me fight with the cut.

"I had two fights, two comfortable wins with one TKO and a stupid elbow ruins it all.

"My mum and dad paid to fly to the other side of the world to watch me win gold.

"The past 10 weeks I've been away from everyone putting in the hard work, all for an elbow to ruin my dream."

16:24 And that's gold for Max Whitlock in the men's all-around.

A 15.100 in his final high bar routine sees him comfortably clear with a total score of 90.631.

A brilliant silver for Scotland's Daniel Keatings as he finishes on 88.298, while England's Nile Wilson rounds of a home nations one, two, three, in third.

16:03 Apparently there has been other sporting action taking place in Glasgow whilst me and my colleagues were prancing about at Hampden.

At the Glasgow National Hockey Centre Malaysia and Wales followed up in the immensely tense game between Scotland and England with one of their own as the two sides drew 0-0 in the second game of the day.

That was followed by a 6-0 thrashing for New Zealand over Canada with the final fixture of the day currently underway between India and South Africa.

As you'd expect if you've been keeping up to date with the Games, a vast host of lawn bowls matches have been taking to the green today with big fixtures in the open triples B6/B7/B8 semi-finals and women's triples quarter-finals currently ongoing at Kelvingrove.

Over at the SECC and England's Nicola Adams is looking to progress to the women's boxing semi-finals as she battles with Sri Lanka's Erndi de Silva. That match is in the closing stages right now.

And finally, the mixed doubles third round matches have just got underway in the table tennis at the Scotstoun Sports Campus, while in the Hydro England's Mark Whitlock currently sits top of the men's all-around finals with Scotland's Daniel Keating's in second and fellow Englishman Nile Wilson in third.

Phew....

Guess who's back...

15:55 After smashing the one minute mile record in this afternoon's media run, an event I've been told is something of a tradition at major athletics events, reporter Paul Osborne.. me... am back to keep you going with all the latest news from here in Glasgow.

Okay. I'll admit, I didn't quite beat Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco's 3:43.13 set in Rome in 1999. But all in all, it was an absolutely brilliant experience at Hampden Park.

15:32 Daniel Purvis has just sent the SSE Hydro crowd into raptures as he nails his parallel bars routine to move up into third behind compatriot Daniel Keatings but England's Max Whitlock is still out in front as the men's gymnastics all-round final continues.

I miss my pals

"It's a little disappointing to be missing out on the Athletes' Village atmosphere, but the pool is fantastic, and Edinburgh is the most stunning town. I had a walk around a couple of times and it is just stunning" - Australia's Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Matthew Mitcham after qualifying for the final of this evening's 1m springboard event, taking place at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in the Scottish capital.

15:05 There is hockey, badminton and boxing action also taking place while medals will be handed out in diving, wrestling and weightlifting later as well as at Hampden Park where the athletics is into its fourth night at the revamped home of Scottish football.

15:00 Meanwhile back to the sporting action and the men's gymnastics all-round final is the place where the next gold medal today will be decided and it's England's Max Whitlock who currently leads the standing after four rotations.

The London 2012 bronze medallist is ahead of Scotland's Daniel Keatings and Nile Wilson of England as they tackle the parallel bars.

14:45 More on the row that has exploded in the Australian athletics camp (see 14:10)

"This statement was not made on behalf of Athletics Australia but by Hollingsworth as an individual and in no way should it be read as the opinion of Athletics Australia. Given Hollingsworth's current role as a head coach of athletics on the Australian Commonwealth Games Team, we will be meeting with the Australian Commonwealth Games Association urgently to formulate a strong response, as is appropriate." - Athletics Australia chief executive Dallas O'Brien responds to Eric Hollingsworth scathing attack on Sally Pearson.

Scottish cyclist Millar vows to go out on a golden swansong

14:30 Reigning Commonwealth Games time trial champion David Millar has vowed to end on a golden swansong as he prepares to take to the road for tomorrow's time trial event.

The 37-year-old was speaki