Commonwealth Games begins with bowls before opening ceremony

The Commonwealth Games has officially begun in Glasgow, with bowls instead of the opening ceremony.

The city's SEC venue hosted the first event on Thursday morning, after an extra bowls session was added last week due to a higher than expected number of entries.

It meant play started before the official opening ceremony at the OVO Hydro on Thursday evening.

Glasgow stepped in at short notice to host the Games after the Australian state of Victoria dropped out, citing the cost of holding the event.

The city previously hosted a successful Games in 2014, although this year's instalment is on a smaller scale with 10 sports across four locations.

The full sporting programme will kick off on Friday, with the first medal set to be awarded in the para weightlifting competition.

On Thursday all attention was all on the bowls, with four rinks in use, which the organisers dubbed "day zero".

The men's singles and ladies pairs were the first categories.

Stands were not packed for the competition, but there was plenty of supporting noise from the crowd.

Among the early starters was Gary Kelly of Northern Ireland, who defeated Frederrick Tafatu of Niue 2-0.

He told BBC Scotland News: "It's a great opportunity to put our sport on the stage.

"Its an absolute honour for every one of us here to be involved in the Games, whether coaches, athletes, managers, and just fantastic to be involved in nations coming together like this."

Also off to a winning start were the Australian duo of Dawn Hayman and Kelsey Cottrell, who defeated the Zambian pair of Foster Banda and Gertrude Siame.

Cottrell said: "We were excited to be starting, it was like OK, we're on day zero so we don't have to wait as long as everyone else so let's get right into it.

"But then you're not totally sure what you're doing, or what the atmosphere's like, so you get a little bit nervous."

Hayman, the lead in the duo, is taking part in her first Games.

She said: "I'm really soaking up the atmosphere, and I'm just super happy to be here. It's really good for us to be on when no other sports have started yet."

Brett O'Riley, the president of World Bowls, told BBC Scotland News it was an honour for bowls to be the first sport on offer at the Games.

He said: "It's a series of firsts including a record bowls entry of countries, and a memorable milestone for our sport and its participants and officials.

The opening ceremony at the OVO Hydro later will feature performances from KT Tunstall, Nathan Evans, Calum Beattie and Nina Nesbitt among others.

74 countries will take part in the Games, with about 3,000 athletes taking part and 215 gold medals on offer.