Bowler Alison Merrien has guaranteed Guernsey’s first medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games after reaching the women’s singles final.
Guernsey’s reigning World Bowls Indoor Championships winner beat Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji 2-0 in their semi-final in Glasgow.
Merrien impressed against the 2018 Commonwealth Games pairs gold medallist and 2015 World Champion of Champions as she won the opening set 11-1 in five ends after three consecutive three-shot ends.
The second set was a tighter affair until Merrien took four shots in the fifth end to move into a 6-4 lead.
Saroji pulled a shot back in the sixth end but Merrien won the seventh and final end by three shots to win the set 8-5.
The islander is competing in her fifth Commonwealth Games and carried Guernsey’s flag at the opening ceremony.
Merrien – who also won a World Champion of Champions title in 2007 – had never been beyond the quarter-finals at a Commonwealth Games before this year.
But she has ensured a second successive women’s singles medal for Guernsey, following up on Lucy Beere’s silver in Birmingham four years ago.
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