Bermuda capped the first day of the NatWest International Island Games, in Gibraltar, by winning their first medal of the competition.

The success came in the men’s singles bowling event where Lamar Richardson impressed, to finish second overall with a total of 1,127 points, to win silver.

Meanwhile, there was also encouraging displays from Damien Matthews who finished sixth overall with 1,071 points with David Maycock a further place behind with 1,067 points, while Blake Raynor finished in nineteenth place overall with a total of 853 points.

Gloria Dill finished as the highest-placed female for Bermuda in the women’s singles event, finishing seventh overall in the standings with 873 points, followed by Florence Simons in tenth on 823 points, Earlene Tucker in twelfth with 793 points and Jenifer Stovell in seventeenth with a total of 741 points.

Bermuda are also guaranteed at least a bronze medal as the men’s tennis team booked their place in the semi-finals of the men’s team event after comfortably overcoming Guernsey in the quarter-finals.

Sam Butler put Bermuda ahead with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Pieter Roninson, before Gavin Manders secured a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 success against Thomas Turner. The pair were awarded a walkover in the doubles encounter to wrap up proceedings.

Meanwhile, Sean Trott narrowly missed out on adding to the nation’s medal tally. Competing in the 10,000 metres, Trott, who finished runner-up in the Bermuda Half Marathon Derby in May, finished fourth overall in the newly built 30,000-seat athletics stadium, in a time of 32min 50.02sec, slightly behind Fred Gronwall, of Gotland in 32:16.13, to just miss out on a place on the podium.

Alan Corlett, of the Isle of Man, claimed the gold medal in a winning time of 32:06.26, with Gronwall’s compatriot Daniel Antononsson finishing second in 32:15.41.

Elsewhere, in athletics, Shianne Smith progressed into the semi-finals of the women’s 100 after finishing third in her heat in a time of 13.31. Smith also finished seventh overall in the long jump, leaping 5.45 metres. Kärt Õunapuu, of Saaremaa, claimed gold with a winning distance of 6.19.

In the squash, Bermuda’s athletes suffered mixed fortunes. In the men’s singles, Greg Fitzgerald suffered a 3-0 defeat to Henry Birsch, of Guernsey, before going down to a 3-2 loss to Alexander Cleminson, of the Falkland Islands.

Stephen Smith went down 3-0 to George Shoulder, of the Isle of Wight, and Anthony Harkin of Jersey, while Anthony Fellowes fared slightly better, drawing 0-0 with Guernsey’s Mark Le Conte, before beating Ian France, of the Falkland Islands 3-2.

In the women’s singles, Judith Furtado beat Hannah Dixon, of the Isle of Man 3-0, before suffering a 3-0 defeat by Joan Smith, of the Shetlands Islands. Meanwhile, Megan Jackson suffered a 3-0 defeat by Jersey’s Beth Garton, while Rahel Barnes eased to 3-0 success against Gibraltar’s Jessica Gomez.

There was disappointment in the first day of competition in the badminton as Bermuda slipped to three straight defeats in the group stages of the team event, with successive 5-0 losses to Guernsey and Minorca being followed by a narrow 3-2 defeat by Aland.

Fortunes were not much greater in beach volleyball. In pool one of the men’s group, the pairing of Keiran Hamilton and Kyle Hamilton, suffered back-to-back defeats, going down in straight sets 2-0 to Jose Figueira and Andre Fortunato, of Jersey, and 2-0 to Richard Campbell and Nathan Dack of the Cayman Islands.

In pool two, the second men’s pair of Daniel Fiddick and Joshua Malpas also suffered defeat in their only game of the day, going down narrowly 2-1 against Gibraltar’s Henry Earle and Jakub Prudzienica.

There was mixed fortunes for Bermuda in the women’s group stages.

In pool four, Meghan Calhoun and Elisabeth Rae went down 2-0 against Marissa Harrison and Lleann Powery, of the Cayman Islands, in their opening encounter, but there was greater joy for Allison Lacoursiere and Allison Settle, who secured a straight sets 2-0 victory over Kristina Sokic and Dominika Thomas, of Jersey, in pool two.

Elsewhere, in the triathlon, Tucker Murphy finished 37th in the men’s individual race, in a time of 2:32:14.