Canada’s John Bezear and Ryan Bester caused upset on day eight of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games when they beat home favourites and four times Games gold medallists Scotland’s Paul Foster MBE and Alex Marshall MBE on a tiebreak.

Recovering from not getting on the scorecard and losing the first set 0-10, including dropping a five on the first end, the Canadians took the second 5-4, scoring then on only two of the five ends, before winning the one-end shoot-out to put them in the driving seat in Section C going into the final round of sectional play.

Appearing in his second Games, Bezear and Bester, Team Canada’s most experienced athlete at Glasgow 2026 appearing in his seventh consecutive Commonwealth Games, lead the group with four wins from four and 12 points in the bag, having beaten the Isle of Man, South Africa and Kenya – the first two also on tiebreaks.

The Canadians, who won bronze in the men’s pairs at the 2023 World Championships, will play fourth place Norfolk Island tomorrow at 12.45 BST, while the Scots, who won gold in the pairs together in 2006 and 2014, silver in 2018 and bronze four years ago in Birmingham, face South Africa who are third with three out of four wins.

In the next session, it was Gary Kelly, of Northern Ireland, who was the hero when he played a match winning conversion shot with the last bowl of the second set to clinch a win against Australia and put him and Adam McKeown in first place in Section D.

Northern Ireland took the first set 7-2, but opponents Aaron Teys and Kelly’s recent Australian Open pairs winning partner Corey Wedlock took command in the second and were 4-1 up going into the last end and in fact were lying shot with just one bowl to come from Kelly, a bronze medallist in the men’s singles just three days ago, before he turned the Aussie bowl out to lie four to tie the set 5-5 and win 1.5-0.5.

New Zealand, 2-0 winners over Pakistan are now second in the table, with Australia third. The two Trans-Tasman pairings playing against each other in their final group game at 9.55 am, with Northern Ireland’s final game against Fiji in the session after.

Elsewhere, Malaysia in Section A and England and India in Section B go into the final day of sectional play with 100 per cent records with England and India going head-to-head for a winner takes all match at 11.20 am.

In the women’s singles, two wins today for Katherine Rednall, of England, over the Cook Islands (Emily Jim) and Malta (Connie-Leigh Rixon) – recovering from dropping the first set and taking the tiebreak – keeps her gold medal hopes alive as she regains top spot in Section A on shot difference, with just one game to go against Daphne Arthur-Almond, of the Falkland Islands, currently sitting fifth. Australia’s Ellen Fife, defending champion, is second after a 2-0 win over the Falkland Islands. She plays the fourth placed Cook Islands in her final sectional round.

Alison Merrien MBE, of Guernsey’s, 2-0 win over her nearest rival Shauna O’Neill, of Northern Ireland, sees her qualify in Section B, with O’Neill currently second and Tayla Bruce, of New Zealand, World Bowls Championship women’s singles holder third.

Section C will go to the wire with leader Amy Williams, of Wales, facing the challenge of second placed Emma Firyana Saroji, of Malaysia, the current World Bowls Series No 1, to decide who books a place in the semi-final, at 4.25 pm – just over four hours before the semi-finals are played.

That session also sees reigning champion of champions holder Shae Wilson, of Norfolk Island, and Sophie McGrouther, of Scotland, battle it out for who goes through in Section D. Wilson is currently unbeaten, while McGrouther lost her first game of four to 2024 World Bowls champion of champions winner Milika Nathan, of Tonga, on a tiebreak.

Three countries are in the running to medal in both the men’s and women’s para pairs.

New Zealand lead the women’s section having won all four of their games, with Australia, Scotland and Malaysia in second, third and fourth place respectively, while Australia maintain are the front runners in the men’s discipline with four out of four victories, with New Zealand, Scotland and England hot on their heels for qualification places.

The men’s pairs and para men’s pairs semi-finals take place at 7.15 pm, with the women’s singles and women’s para pairs semi-finals at 8.40 pm.

For Glasgow 2026 full schedule and results, see: https://www.glasgow2026.com/schedule/day-by-day?code=LBO&startDate=2026-07-24

To view the full photo gallery, see: https://worldbowls.pixieset.com/2026commonwealthgames/