Cyprus secures 11 medals at Commonwealth Games

A late medal surge at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham saw Cyprus win 11 gongs, including two golds, to place them 17 in the table.

The Games wrap up in Birmingham on Monday, with Cyprus in a credible position after the team’s gymnasts took nine of its 11 medals during the competition.

Over the weekend, gymnast Anna Sokolova, 18, secured two silver medals and a bronze for Cyprus, making her the best female Cypriot athlete of the games.

She won second place in the All-Around Individual Final of the Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Teenager Sokolova scored 112.100 from the four judges, taking second place and securing the silver medal.

The gold medal was won by the English Gymnast Ekimova, who won with a score of 112.300.

Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva from Australia won the Bronze medal with a score of 111.100.

Russian-born Sokolova also clinched another silver medal in Hoop with 28,300 points, with Wales’ Gemma Natasha Frizlle clinching gold with 28,700 and Canada’s Carmel Kallemma securing bronze with 28,200.

Apart from two silver medals, Sokolova also clinched bronze for the Ball with 28,800 points – Malaysia’s Joe Ee Gn won gold with 29,700, followed by Canada’s Suzanna Shahbazian with 29,050.

In Track and Field, Alexandros Poursanides won a bronze in the men’s Hammer Throw.

He threw a season’s best of 73.97m to secure a medal.

Nick Miller from England won the gold medal with a throw of 76.43, and Canadian Ethan Katzberg got silver with a throw of 76.36 meters.

Following the medal surge, Cyprus cemented a place in the top half of the medal table.

Cyprus’ two golds were in Judo (Giorgos Balartsashvili), the Men’s Horizontal Bar (Ilias Georgiou), and six bronzes, including Artistic Gymnastics three by Marios Georgiou in Individual All-Around, Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar and one by the Cypriot team in All-Around.

Adding to Solokova’s two silvers, Sokratis Pilakouris won silver on the men’s rings.