Busy sporting weekend with sailing & Commonwealth Games competition

A big weekend of sailing to look ahead to. MMA fighter Leeroy Ruiz makes his pro debut in the USA and Gibraltar's national basketball squads are away in European action; but first we head to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. 

17 athletes are in Glasgow ready to get started at the Commonwealth Games. The opening ceremony took place last night with around three thousand athletes from seventy-four nations and territories taking part. Swimmer Jordan Gonzalez was Gibraltar’s flag bearer with weightlifter Holly O'Shea, carrying Gibraltar’s specially designed King’s Baton.

The squad will compete in swimming, athletics, boxing, judo and weightlifting.

Jordan Gonzalez was the first Gibraltarian to compete in the games. He swam this morning in the 50m backstroke coming third in his heat with a time of 28.30 seconds.

It’s a quiet day for the rest of team Gibraltar with more swimmers taking to the pool Saturday morning.

Ewan Gracia will then make history on Sunday becoming the first boxer representing Gibratlar to step into the ring. He’s straight into the round of 16 after receiving a bye. The rest of our athletes will have to wait till after the weekend to get their campagins underway

Gibraltar's U18 sides have got their FIBA EuroBasket Division C campaigns underway. The Women in Kosovo, have lost their first three games against Armenia, Kosovo and Georgia.The Men, in Albania, also lost matches to Armenia, Kosovo. And a defeat to Andorra. Both squads will now play classification games on the weekend.

MMA fighter Leeroy Ruiz will be making his professional debut tomorrow. Leeroy is based in the USA and is one of 9 bouts in a packed Victory Fighting League event. he’ll take on Gabe Piria who’s fought twice before winning one and losing the other.

The XXVIII Corona Gibraltar Regatta sails this weekend (25-26 July), with the Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club hosting ORC cruiser-racers and J/80 Sportboats from Gibraltar and Andalusia.

The Round the Rock remains the main draw — a full circumnavigation of the Rock that tests crews against shifting winds and strong tidal streams. Westerlies of 15-20 knots are forecast, promising fast, tactical racing across the weekend.

Gibraltar umpire Sunil Chandiramani has landed another prestigious appointment. Having recently joined the ICC's Global Development Panel  one of just 36 umpires worldwide and only eight from Europe he's now been named to officiate the ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup Europe Division 2 Qualifier in Guernsey this week.