Talk of the Games, Day 8: 'Give me a hug and buy me a pint'
Some of the best quotes from Day 8 of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
A selection of what the athletes have had to say on the eighth day of action in Glasgow.
Tarona Taafaki has put Tuvalu on the map by winning their first ever Commonwealth Games medal, bronze in the Women's 75kg Boxing. Now most of us just need to find it.
"Probably 95% of the audience don’t know where my country is."
Judoka Aiden Moffat of Scotland calls it a day after winning his opening match in the -66kg category but losing his quarter-final:
“We all want the fairytale ending, but that’s as close as I’m going to get... That is my career down the toilet. I am now a retired athlete... I’m 31 now, I’m no spring chicken, I can’t keep the engine operating. I’m celebrating my retirement so if you see me kicking about Glasgow, come and give me a hug and buy me a pint.”
Canadian boxer Joshua Ofori (pictured, left), had some food for thought after losing his 80kg semi-final to Ankush Ankush of India:
“That's not the colour (medal) I wanted, but we go back into the kitchen, add some recipes together and then cook again for the next competition. Right now it sucks to lose, but we come back even stronger as athletes.”
Ghana’s Farrakhan Shaaban Mohammed was pretty hyped to have completed his first competitive Track Cycling event, the Men's 4000m Individual Pursuit - and he even has a special plea for Scotland:
“I'm really, really impressed because I saw myself on this big telly (in the velodrome), all the British are looking at me and I was like - crazy. My president is at home looking at me and he's very, very happy about that. They will treat me as a king (back home) because it's not easy to be here. When Scotland is praising you, it means you are at the top. You are a champion. I really, really wish one day I'll be under the Scotland team for them to train me so that I can come and compete with their cyclists here on Chris Hoy's Velodrome to always beat them. So I'm hoping they will see me and take me and groom me to the top.”
Boxer Mervin Clair of Mauritius managed to stay on his feet in losing his Men's 70kg semi-final on points to Orlando Holley-Sotomi - unlike the Welshman's quarter-final opponent who suffered a brutal first-round knockout - but Clair was full of respect for the power of Holley-Sotomi's punching:
"It breaks all your preparation. You come in prepared, then boom, boom - it wrecks your mind."
Northern Ireland's Jon McConnell enjoyed being the pantomime villain in his 70k Men's Boxing points victory over home favourite Sonny Kerr (SCO):
"I heard a few boos when my name was read out but I just thought: 'Let's go!'"
India's Track Cyclist Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam was, in fact, named after another football superstar, Ronaldinho, but later changed it to Ronaldo because it was shorter:
"I didn't even know how to kick a ball, but if I can qualify for the Olympics, Ronaldo will become a famous name in Indian Track Cycling."
