Day Nine: Shooting - Glover upbeat despite another 'nearly' day

Personal tragedy shadowed Rachel Glover's quest to become the Isle of Man's first Commonwealth Games female shooting medallist at the Belmont Shooting Centre.

She finished three places out of the medals in the 50m rifle prone on Thursday 12 April, less than three points from bronze, and on Friday 13 April shot an excellent 570 with 21 central bulls to be 11th in qualifying, but three shy of the final.

Her training coming into the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games was hampered by the failing health of her mother.

Rachel told Energy FM: "I had a lot less time to train than the other athletes, which is a shame. Unfortunately, my mum spent last year battling brain cancer, so I was looking after her and she passed away at the end of November.

"I started training again in December. I haven't had 18 months of training, I've had three months."

She emerged almost triumphant after Friday's event, saying: "I'm really pleased. It's not often I shoot 570. I haven't shot like that for a while. I'm delighted to have come so close to the final.

"We have no funding from our government. We are just 85,000 (people), so to get that close, I'm really excited."

"I have other matches this year. I'm targeting the world cup next month at Munich and then selections for the world championships in September (South Korea). They only happen every four years."