Silver joy for Wales swimmer Carlin

Wales' Jazmin Carlin led the way as the home nations' swimmers bagged three silvers and two bronze medals on the opening day of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Tenacious Carling, described by her coach Bud McAllister as a "pitbull" earlier this year, demonstrated her tenacity as she came from sixth on the final turn to take silver in the women's 200m freestyle final at the Dr SP Mukherjee Aquatic Centre.

Swansea-based Carlin, 20, clocked one minute 58.29 seconds, 0.79 seconds behind Australian gold medal winner Kylie Palmer to claim the first medal for a female Welsh swimmer since 1974.

England's Rebecca Adlington took bronze in 1:58.47 and Jo Jackson finished fifth.

"My mum and dad will be watching at home and my mum will be crying her eyes out on the sofa," said Carlin, who hopes to claim another medal in the 400m freestyle later this week when she will tackle Adlington again.

Adlington was thrilled to have come away with a medal in her first Commonwealth Games as she begins an extensive programme which will see the Olympic gold medallist take on both the 400m and 800m as well as the 4x200m relay.

Adlington said: "To just be in the final at my first Commonwealths was unbelievable and to come away with a medal I'm just so happy about, especially at an event that I'm not really that good at."

There were further silver medals for England's Michael Rock, in the 200m butterfly, and the England's men's 4x100m freestyle relay team, with David Carry claiming bronze for Scotland in the 400m freestyle.

The remaining home nations medal on day one went to England's men's artistic gymnastics team who took silver and only narrowly missed out on the gold to their Australian rivals at the Indra Gandhi Sports Complex.

England's team of Reiss Beckford, Luke Folwell, Steve Jehu, Danny Lawrence and Max Whitlock overtook Australia with one apparatus rotation remaining.

However, a faltering pommel horse performance from England and a series of supreme rings routines from Australia saw the latter emerge victorious with 259.050 points, 2.300 ahead of England (256.750), while Canada (248.500) took bronze.

England were without Louis Smith, rested in advance of this month's World Championships, and Beckford said: "We came here to get a medal and we got a silver medal, so I'm really happy."

The day's events doubled as the team final and individual qualifying. The top 24 athletes on all the apparatus progressed to the all-around final, while the individual apparatus finalists were also determined.

Despite a couple of errors, Beckford was second to Australia's Joshua Jefferis in all-around qualification, with Folwell third and Whitlock fifth, boding well for England for Wednesday's final.

Grant Gardiner qualified in 11th, with his Wales team-mates Matt Hennessey and Clinton Purnell in 12th and 18th, respectively, while Northern Ireland's Luke Carson was 13th and Alex Hedges of the Isle of Man squeezed through in 21st.

Scotland's Ryan McKee was 25th and is a reserve for the all-around final.