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Kent athletes at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games - Day 10 - Saturday, August 2 - Adam Gemili wins second silver medal

00:00, 02 August 2014

updated: 09:43, 02 August 2014

Adam Gemili collected his second silver medal of Glasgow 2014 on a memorable day for Kent at the Commonwealth Games.

Dartford star Gemili ran a blistering first leg of the 4x100m relay at Hampden Park to set his England teammates up for a slick relay in soaking conditions.

The 100m individual silver medallist stormed round the bend, handing over to Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who in turn passed the baton to Richard Kilty, with Danny Talbot taking over a fraction ahead of Jamaica, only to be overhauled by Usain Bolt on the final straight.

Talbot held off the challenge of Trinidadian Richard Thompson to finish second in 38.02secs. Jamaica finished in a new Games record of 37.58secs - the fastest in the world this year.

At the same time England's women were in the midst of a classic gold medal match against Australia.

In a tense affair, Lily Owsley gave England a second-half lead which they held until 11 seconds from time when Holcombe keeper Maddie Hinch was beaten by the rebound from her own fine save from a last-gasp penalty corner, conceded by 19-year-old Owsley.

The match went to penalty shuffles and although England went ahead, and Hinch pulled off a fine save, the Hockeyroos proved more clinical and ran-out 3-1 winners.

Egerton star Susannah Townsend of Canterbury HC and Hinch's Holcombe teammates Lucy Wood, Laura Unsworth, Sam Quek and Nicola White all had to settle for silver, though it was a welcome return to form after their nightmare 11th-placed World Cup finish earlier this summer.

First-up today England's hockey men suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of World Champions Australia who sealed their place in Sunday's gold medal match.

Chatham-born former Sutton Valence School pupil Ashley Jackson was in the thick of things for England, while Holcombe contingent Barry Middleton, Dan Fox, Iain Lewers, Nick Catlin and George Pinner also featured.

Australia - who have won every Commonwealth Games men's hockey gold ever contested - stormed into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes, and though Jackson's delicious pass paved the way for Harry Martin to halve the deficit after the break from close range, a late penalty corner and a breakaway fourth after keeper Pinner had been replaced with a kicking-back, was enough to send the defending champions through.

New Zealand lost 3-2 to India in the other last-four clash with England set to face the Kiwis at 10am on Sunday for bronze.

Skipper Middleton said: "We started slower, slower than what we wanted and they started fast but we know that is what they do and if we can keep it close we could get back into it.

“We were just a bit passive in the first half and let them come at us. We were upset with the goals we conceded but there were others they could have scored so 2-0 was a fair reflection.

“In the second half we had momentum going but they got their third at a good time for them and it was too much to come back.”

He added: "We have come here to win things, now we can’t win the whole thing so you reassess and say we need to win the bronze medal.

“I think it’s pretty simple now, some games you find are hard to pick yourself up for but I think there have been a lot tougher games to get myself up for than a bronze medal.”

South Africa's women suffered a 5-2 defeat against the Black Sticks in the bronze match, with Canterbury's Dirkie Chamberlain and Shelley Russell of Holcombe in action.

For live updates throughout the day follow @AlexHoadKOL on twitter.

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