HOPES of a second succesful Scottish sister act at the SECC ended in double disappointment for Fiona and Donna Robertson.
The 45-year-old identical twins used to train with golden judo pair Kimberley and Louise Renicks but fell short in their attempts to follow them on to the medal rostrum.
Both these former Commonwealth Judo medallists now compete in the freestyle wrestling 48kg class, and had everything gone to plan the bronze medal match could have been a family affair, the winner guaranteed to take Scotland's first medal in this sport for 20 years. Unfortunately, Rebecca Muambo from Cameroon put paid to each of them in turn - disposing first of Donna. Muambo then raced to an unassailable 10-point advantage to destroy the hopes of her sister, Fiona, who in a category with just seven entrants, had earned an unlikely reprieve on repechage points by dint of the fact that her quarter-final opponent Yvonne Rattigan of England reached the final.
"We went to watch the judo each evening and it was so inspiring watching them. But we knew it was a hard act to follow," said Fiona Robertson. "Most Scottish people don't know what freestyle wrestling is, they know the Saturday afternoon stuff, the capes and the masks," she added. "Hopefully, this has given them a chance to see what the sport is really about."
There was further disappointment in the men's freestyle 57kg class with Ross McFarlane losing 3-0 to Craig Pilling of Wales in the quarter finals and Brian Harper going down 4-0 to Shane Parker of Australia in the last 16. His young Tullibody clubmate Shannon Hawke will attempt to fare better today.
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