English sprinter Asha Philip has praised the crowd at this afternoon's first athletics session of the Commonwealth Games, saying that it was more enjoyable than usual for the athletes.
Philip was racing in the women's 100m heats and was able to comfortably qualify for tomorrow's semi-finals.
Afterwards she spoke to Sports Mole and was quick to applaud the thousands of fans at Hampden Park.
"They're making the atmosphere for us athletes more enjoyable," she said. "They played the '500 Miles' song and it was getting the crowd involved.
"I've always said when it comes to athletics that they need to get the crowd more involved. You go to other events like basketball and they really get the crowd going.
"It's nice that everyone's getting up, jumping around and smiling. If they're smiling, we're smiling."
Philip was beaten into first place by almost three tenths of a second by the fastest woman in the heats, Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare.
Reflecting on the race, she added: "Yeah it was good. I wanted to be more in the mix because then you'd feel more at ease, but I've qualified. That was the main thing and I'm not complaining about that."
Philip will start in lane four in the first of three semi-finals tomorrow evening. The top two from each progress to the final, along with the two fastest losers.
Pascal Lemesre
