PEMBROKESHIRE’s Joel Makin earned a silver medal at Commonwealth Games as he was beaten in the Squash singles final by New Zealand’s Paul Coll.
Makin had won the Manchester Open in April and was in good form ahead of the games.
Coll was beaten in the Gold medal match at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and was keen to go one better this time around.
Joel won the first set 11-3 but New Zealander Coll won a close second set 11-9.
The third set was also a closely-fought contest but the Welshman edged it by 11 points to eight to take a 2-1 lead.
Coll made a good start to the fourth set as he raced into a 3-0 lead and he then turned that into 8-3 to put himself in a strong position.
Makin brought that back to 8-7 but Coll edged ahead again to 10-7. Makin saved a game ball but Coll won to take the fourth set 11-8.
That forced a deciding set and it was the New Zealander who grabbed the first point of it but the Pembrokeshire athlete won the next to level it up.
Coll took a 4-1 lead and then 7-3 as he continued to hold the advantage.
The New Zealander then took it to 10-6 despite some of the best efforts of Makin.
The Pembrokeshire man continued to save match balls as he brought the score back to 10-7 but a mistake from Makin saw Coll take the gold medal.
