It’s Tuesday afternoon in Perth and our team has been busy in competition again!

Three newcomers to the team; Bernie Cox, Teresa Smyth and Finbar O’Regan were joined by the experienced Pat O’Sullivan at Subiaco for day two of Petanque and the doubles competition. They were supported by Robyn (team media) and Bernie’s niece and her family who have travelled over from Sydney for the week to support the team.

There were some familiar faces from the singles competition yesterday and some new competitors to face and friends to make. Bernie and Teresa faced pairings from Hong Kong, Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Australia. Competition was tough but the two ladies gave their best, enjoyed the experience and made new friends. Pat and Finbar teamed up in the men’s doubles and faced stiff competition. Given the size of the field and the level of experience, despite winning two of their three matches, they did not make the podium.

Meanwhile, at the swimming pool, our sole representative in the pool, Sheila Gregan was in action. A familiar and much loved competitor at the Games, Sheila was in her element with teams looking to ‘adopt’ her as she was competing alone. Team manager, Colin White, accompanied Sheila to the pool and enjoyed the morning session of competition. Sheila’s only swim today was in the 100m breast stroke (she will be competing in more swimming events tomorrow) and she finished 6th in the final and put in a good swim. Typical of the spirit of the team, as soon as Sheila was finished her swim she was asking about where we could go to support other Irish participants so it was off to Petanque!

Tony Gartland was our only representative in the ten pin bowling singles and Carol (IKA CEO) went along to support him. Tony played consistently and enjoyed his one sport that is more leisurely than the track events he has coming up later in the week. Tony is in a notoriously challenging category in the bowling with bowlers from the likes of the US and Greece talking knowledgeably about oiling patterns on the lanes as they polished their customised bowling balls! You can see Tony’s (Anthony) score from Game 2 of 3 below.

Tonight is the Games Cultural Evening which will be held in the WA Museum Boola Bardip.

There is great camaraderie in the team and it a delight to see that this year’s squad are following in the long tradition of friendships being formed that will last well beyond the Games. The TTI family continues to develop… Thank you to everyone who is following us and leaving comments on social media, etc.