Alison Merrien has guaranteed Guernsey their first medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games [BBC]Bowler Alison Merrien has guaranteed Guernsey's first medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games after reaching the women's singles final.Guernsey's reigning World Bowls Indoor Championships winner beat Malaysia's Emma Firyana Saroji 2-0 in their semi-final in Glasgow.Merrien impressed against the 2018 Commonwealth Games pairs gold medallist and 2015 World Champion of Champions as she won the opening set 11-1 in five ends after three consecutive three-shot ends.The second set was a tighter affair until Merrien took four shots in the fifth end to move into a 6-4 lead. Saroji pulled a shot back in the sixth end but Merrien won the seventh and final end by three shots to win the set 8-5.Merrien carried the Guernsey flag at the opening ceremony alongside her husband Ian, who bowled in the men's pairs [PA Media]The islander is competing in her fifth Commonwealth Games and carried Guernsey's flag at the opening ceremony.Merrien - who also won a World Champion of Champions title in 2007 - had never been beyond the quarter-finals at a Commonwealth Games before this year.But she has ensured a second successive women's singles medal for Guernsey, following up on Lucy Beere's silver in Birmingham four years ago.