Evans, Grinham and King To Be Flagbearers At Commonwealth Games

Wales’ Tesni Evans, Australia’s Rachael Grinham and New Zealand’s Joelle King have all been selected to be flag-bearers for their respective nations at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

World No.5 Joelle King is set to be the top seed for the women’s event in Birmingham this week, and she will be aiming to add to her impressive tally of Commonwealth Games medals, along with defending both the Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles title that she claimed on the Gold Coast four years ago.

The Kiwi has a total of six Commonwealth Games medals in her career, including a second Women’s Doubles Gold medal, which came back in 2018. She also has a Mixed Doubles Silver medal, along with Bronze medals in both the Women’s Singles and the Mixed Doubles.

King has been selected to be one of the flag-bearers for Team New Zealand, alongside two-time Olympic Bronze Medallist shot-putter Tom Walsh.

Your Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony Ngā Pou Hapai (flagbearers) are…

Three-time Commonwealth Games champion @Joelle_King

Two-time Olympic bronze medallist @TomWalshSP #EarnTheFern #KoTātauTeKapaAotearoa #WeAreTheNZTeam pic.twitter.com/YNTtC2vD0j

— The New Zealand Team (@TheNZTeam) July 27, 2022

45-year-old Rachael Grinham will be competing at the Commonwealth Games for a sixth time, and she has been able to secure medals in each of her five previous appearances, tallying eight in total.

She first featured for Team Australia in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, winning a Silver Medal in the Women’s Doubles, before then claiming a pair of Bronze Medals four years later in 2002. Grinham’s first Gold Medal came in the Women’s Doubles in 2006, along with a Silver Medal in the Women’s Singles and a Bronze Medal in the Mixed Doubles.

Grinham secured Mixed Doubles Gold in 2014, before also taking a Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal on home soil on the Gold Coast in 2018. She will be a flag-bearer for Team Australia alongside three-times Commonwealth Games Gold Medal hockey player Eddie Ockenden.

Here they are… our @birminghamcg22 Australian Team Opening Ceremony Flagbearers!

Eight-time Commonwealth Games medallist Rachael Grinham and three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eddie Ockenden. #BoldInGold #B2022https://t.co/qQpAWpCLhe

— Commonwealth Games Australia (@CommGamesAUS) July 27, 2022

Joining King and Grinham as flag-bearers for their respective nations will be Welshwoman Tesni Evans, with the World No.18 set to lead out her country at the opening ceremony on Thursday evening in Birmingham.

Evans will be aiming to go at least one better than her Women’s Singles Bronze Medal in 2018, as she plays in the same competition, along with teaming up with World No.8 Joel Makin in the Mixed Doubles.

The 29-year-old will lead out Wales at the opening ceremony alongside two-time Olympic Gold Medallist and 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.

NEWYDDION | NEWS

Llongyfarchiadau i @GeraintThomas86 & @tesnievans who have been selected as Team Wales flag bearers for the 2022 Birmingham Opening Ceremony!

Gorau nod, uchelgais #tîmcymru #B2022 pic.twitter.com/lZgmD15miv

— Team Wales Tîm Cymru (@TeamWales) July 28, 2022