Team Isle of Man’s participation at this year’s Commonwealth Games officially got underway on Thursday morning.

Bowlers Caroline Whitehead, Paula Garrett and Mark McGreal kickstarted the 23rd edition of the multi-sport event at the SEC (Scottish Exhibition Campus) Centre.

For the first time, bowls and para-bowls are taking place entirely indoors, having been held at Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre when the Games were last held in Scotland’s second city back in 2014.

Whitehead and Garrett got their women’s pairs campaign underway with a match against their Guernsey counterparts, Rose Ogier and Ali Merrien.

Unfortunately for the Manx duo, their opponents proved too strong as they won the first set 5-1 to take control.

Whitehead and Garrett responded well in the second set which proved to be a much closer affair, but in the end Ogier and Merrien won 3-2 to take the honours.

There was better news for McGreal though, as he got off to a winning start in the men’s singles.

Going up against Jersey’s Taylor Greechan, the 40-year-old got off to a flying start by racing into a 4-0 lead in the opening end, which he increased to 8-0 by the fourth.

While Greechan replied, it was McGreal who comfortably took the first set 10-5 to seize the early initiative.

It was a different story in the second set though, as it was the Jersey player who scored four without reply on the opening end.

But McGreal then dominated the next few ends, forcing his opponent to blank while gradually chipping away at the lead before opening up an advantage of his own.

After taking the lead on the fifth end, McGreal controlled the remainder of the set to take it 9-6 and with it a 2-0 overall victory to get his campaign off to a good start.

Media Isle of Man’s Commonwealth Games coverage is brought to you in association with Canaccord Wealth.