Merrien guarantees Guernsey a Commonwealth Games medal

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Alison Merrien has guaranteed Guernsey their first medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games [Getty Images]

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.

She will face England's Katherine Rednall in the gold medal match on Sunday after she defeated Norfolk Island's Shae Wilson in a dramatic tie-break.

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Merrien carried the Guernsey flag at the opening ceremony alongside her husband Ian, who bowled in the men's pairs [PA Media]

"It's absolutely amazing," said Merrien, who 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.

"It's been a dream and it's a reality now, I've got a medal," she added to BBC Guernsey.

"The top one is the one you want, but to get a medal at this level is just fantastic, I'm really pleased."

She is the last Guernsey competitor at the Commonwealth Games after her husband Ian and partner Jason Greenslade bowed out of the men's pairs earlier on Saturday.

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