Pearson smiling at last after overcoming medal hurdle

Sally Pearson finally got her gold, winning the 100m hurdles at the Commonwealth Games.

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NEW DELHI // Sally Pearson finally got her gold, winning the 100m hurdles yesterday at the Commonwealth Games.

The Olympic silver medallist from Australia thought she had won the 100m last week, but hours after crossing the line first she was disqualified for a previous false start. This time, there was no question. She got off fast and led for the entire race, finishing in a Games record of 12.67secs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to win her first games gold medal. The previous mark of 12.70 was set by Gillian Russell of Jamaica in 1998 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"It has been a horrible week because of the disqualification," Pearson said. "I am just relieved and I am happy now. I did not even have to look, I just knew I had won the gold." Elsewhere, Kenya scored in the last minute for a 12-10 upset victory over Samoa, the 2010 world Rugby Sevens champions, to join New Zealand, England and South Africa as unbeaten teams after the first day of the tournament.

In the quarter-finals today, New Zealand take on Wales, South Africa play Scotland, the Kenyans take on Australia and England face Samoa. England beat Australia 21-19 to clinch first place in Pool D when the Australians missed the conversion of a try scored after the full-time siren had sounded. Nine of the world's 12 highest-ranked sevens teams are among the 16 sides in New Delhi. Missing from the tournament are Fiji. The country has been suspended by the Commonwealth for political reasons.