Para-cyclist James Ball claims first medal for Wales at Commonwealth Games, plus day one Gwent round-up

The duo finished nearly a second behind Scotland’s Neil Fachie, who was piloted by Matt Rotherham, but more than half-a-second ahead of Aussie Brad Henderson and Tom Clarke.

Fachie, the world record holder for the event and a 10-time world champion in all, defended the title he won four years ago in Glasgow.

For Rio Olympian Ball, his silver came on the back of two medals at last month’s world championships in Brazil and will give Team Wales a big morale boost going forward.

"It feels absolutely fantastic, it's a great honour to finally get the first one," said Ball.

"I hope it's a confidence boost for the whole team.

"I'm always on tenterhooks with (Neil Fachie). I've just come from Rio in the world championships and knew he would be good competition.

"I'm just pleased to be so close to him.

"It's my first Commonwealth Games. I hope I've done the team proud and will treasure it for the rest of my life."

Three more riders from Gwent came close to adding to Ball’s silver but just missed out with fourth-place finishes.

The men’s 4000m team pursuit quartet of Rhys Britton, Joe Holt, Ethan Vernon and Cross Keys’ Sam Harrison (pictured below) were the fourth-fastest qualifiers after New Zealand were disqualified.

They faced Canada in the ride-off for bronze but couldn’t do anything to prevent their rivals coming out on top.

In the women’s team sprint, the Welsh pair of Newport’s Ellie Coster and Abergavenny rider Rachel James also benefitted from a disqualification to progress from qualifying.

But despite pushing England’s Katy Marchant and Lauren Bate all the way in the battle for third, Coster and James (above) were left to settle for fourth.

Elsewhere on day one, Gwent hockey duo Rose Thomas and Sophie Clayton were celebrating a fantastic win for Wales' women against India.

Goalkeeper Thomas and forward Sophie Clayton, from Caerleon and Newport respectively, helped their country to a sensational 3-2 victory over the side ranked 10th in the world.

Wales, 16 places below their opponents in the world rankings, took a 2-0 half-time lead thanks to goals from Lisa Daley and Sian French.

However, India fought back and Wales’ opening Pool A match looked set to be heading for a draw until Natasha Marke-Jones scrambled a winner three minutes from time.

Incredibly, it was the first time Wales had claimed the scalp of a top-10 team in more than 30 years.

Skipper Leah Wilkinson, who won a record 142nd cap, said: "We've been doing really well for the last couple of years and this is our time to show what we could do.

"Some of the younger girls were asking me 'what's the biggest win you've ever had?'.

“This is the biggest win we've ever had, and the way we did it by not giving up means the world to us.”

She added: “We are incredibly proud of our performance.

“We kept to our game plan throughout and that was backed up with our fight, passion and desire to never give up.

“We also know that this was just one game of the tournament and we need to do all we can to prepare and go again tomorrow against England.”

Meanwhile, Wales' men, featuring Torfaen's Jacob Draper, also made a positive start on the Gold Coast with a 1-1 draw against Pakistan in Pool B.

Rupert Shipperley gave Wales the lead in the third quarter but Ali Mubashar equalised soon after.

Wales are in action again on Saturday against Malaysia.

Charlotte Carey and Chloe Thomas were on the wrong end of a 3-1 loss to India in Wales women’s opening team group game on the Gold Coast.

Carey, below, playing in her third Commonwealth Games, did win her doubles match alongside 11-year-old Anna Hursey but the Indians prevailed overall.

Ebbw Vale’s Carey got her team under way in the best-of-five rubber encounter against Manika Batra.

She lost the first set 11-8 but reversed the scoreline to level proceedings, before Batra took set three 11-5 and four 11-4.

Thomas, below, from Tredegar, then suffered a straight-sets defeat to Mouma Das (12-10, 11-7, 11-7).

Carey and Cardiff schoolgirl Hursey gave Wales hope as they won a thrilling five-set doubles tussle 13-11 in the decider.

They had gone clear after winning sets one and two but Madhurika Patkar and Das recovered.

Patkar then sealed India’s 3-1 triumph with a straight-sets success over Thomas (11-3, 11-4, 12-10).

Over in the pool there was a sixth place for Torfaen’s Alex Rosser in para-swimming’s S14 200m freestyle.

In squash, Caerphilly’s Peter Creed bowed out of the men’s singles in the last 32 after losing 3-1 to Lewis Walters of Jamaica.

While in bowls, the men’s triple of Newport-based Jonathan Tomlinson, Ebbw Vale’s Stephen Harris and Ross Owen secured a pair of victories.

Marc Wyatt, another member of Team Wales from Caerphilly, and Cardiff’s Daniel Salmon beat the Isle of Man 22-11 in the men’s pairs.

Elsewhere, Guernsey boxer Billy Le Poullain, coached in Australia by Torfaen Warriors ABC’s Simon Weaver, fell at the first hurdle following a points loss to Pakistan’s Gul Zaib at 69kg.