Oxfordshire swimmer Simon Burnett was thrilled after helping England to a silver medal in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening day of the Commonweatlh Games in Delhi, writes STUART WEIR.

Burnett, who was born in Oxford and lived in Tets-worth, swam the first leg as he and his teammates Liam Tancock, Grant Turner and Adam Brown claimed second place.

Australia took gold in 3mins 13.92secs, with England 1.13 secs behind.

Fourth at the turn, Burnett, who now lives and trains in Tucson, Arizona, closed to second place at the end of his leg timed at 48.82.

Afterwards he said: “It was fantastic. I wanted to go under 49 seconds and put the boys in a great position and I did it.

“It was my best time of the season – the best in a long time in fact. I am very happy.”

As well as a first medal, the swim will give him confidence for the rest of the champion-ships.

He added: “I feel good. I have the 100m individual on Wed-nesday. I hope to be able to repeat and even shave a little bit off here and there.

“I think there is the possibility of another medal. Then there’s the 50m at the end of the week and the 4x100 medley. There are chances of medals in all of them.”

The first round of archery’s compound individual 70m event was also held yesterday.

In the men’s section, Oxford-born Chris White was 12th out of 48 with a score of 696, eight behind leader Septimus Cilliers, of South Africa.

Northern Ireland’s Stuart Wilson, who lives in Wallingford, was 19th.

Oxfordshire’s Nicola Simp-son, from Marston, was fourth in the women’s event on 689, nine behind Doris Jones, of Canada. The competitions continue today.