Scottish sports fans are spoilt for choice this weekend as the Team Scotland Series continues with an exciting trio of Scottish Championship events.
Building on successful events for judo and athletics in January, Team Scotland’s Glasgow 2014 stars in gymnastics, table tennis and squash go head to head with their domestic rivals in a bid to be crowned Scottish Champion and stake a claim for a place on Team Scotland at Gold Coast 2018.
Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games medallist Daniel Purvis leads the line-up of stars competing at the 2017 Scottish National Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Perth on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 March.
Winner of the All-Around title for the past three years, the 26-year-old returns to the Bell’s Sports Centre seeking more Scottish Championship success, with competition set to come from his Southport club team mate Frank Baines and City of Glasgow’s Liam Davie.
The trio joined forces with the now retired Adam Cox and Dan Keatings to claim an historic first Commonwealth Games gymnastics team medal for Team Scotland at Glasgow 2014, and their thoughts will now be firmly on next year’s Games in Gold Coast, with this weekend marking the first opportunity for gymnasts to post a qualification standard.
Based south of the border for training, Purvis said: “It’s always fantastic to come back to Scotland for the national championships and it will be exciting to see who the new champion will be this year.
“The last four years have been tough and it has been good to have a little break after a hard Olympic cycle. I’m now getting my body back into competition, and building up to Gold Coast 2018. It would be nice to reach qualification standard in the first event this year. It is a new routine, so I’m just looking to put in clean performances and hopefully some good qualifying scores.”
Two further Team Scotland Glasgow 2014 competitors, current Scottish champion, Cara Kennedy, and Carly Smith, both from the City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club, will lead the charge for the women’s title in Perth.
Also taking place at Bell’s Sports Centre, the Scottish National Table Tennis Championships will see eleven-times Scottish Champion Gavin Rumgay try to match Euan Walker’s record 12 singles’ titles.
The London-based player returns to his home city as number one seed for the men’s singles on Saturday, with his chances of retaining the title and equalling Walker’s record boosted by the absence through injury of Scottish number two Craig Howieson. Robert Gordon University student and number two seed Colin Dalgleish is tipped to push him all the way.
In the women’s singles, Kilbirnie’s Rebecca Plaistow is out to repeat her remarkable achievement of last year, when she won both senior and junior titles.
She faces a considerable challenge with established Scottish international players Linda Flaws from Shetland and Perth’s Gillian Edwards also vying for the title. Both represented Team Scotland at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and will provide formidable opposition.
Over in Edinburgh, World Doubles champion Alan Clyne goes into the Scottish Squash National Championships as defending champion and number one seed with action beginning on Friday evening at the Edinburgh Sports Club and concluding on Sunday.
With Clyne’s partner in that World Championship win, Greg Lobban, side-lined through injury, the challenge will come from Edinburgh’s Douglas Kempsell, Team Scotland Glasgow 2014 competitor Kevin Moran and rising star Rory Stewart.
Top seed in the women’s competition is Georgia Adderley, runner up last year at the age of just 15. Juggling two sports, the multi-talented teenager spent last week playing football for Scotland U16 and now turns her attention back to the squash court in a bid for the national title. Other names in the mix are likely to include Robyn Young, Elspeth Young and Katriona Allen.
Jon Doig OBE, Chief Executive at Commonwealth Games Scotland and Team Scotland Chef de Mission for Gold Coast 2018, said:
“The Team Scotland Series is an exciting collaboration between our member sports, aimed at profiling these important Scottish Championships events and the part they play on the road to representing Team Scotland in the future.
“With a packed weekend ahead of us, I look forward to the opportunity to see both athletes who represented Team Scotland in Glasgow and the rising stars ready to make a breakthrough, as they aim for a place at Gold Coast 2018 and beyond.”
The Team Scotland Series is a ground-breaking collaboration which brings together Scottish Championship events across 13 Commonwealth Games sports. Part of Team Scotland’s work to support member sports and champion the ongoing success of Scots on the national and international sporting stage, it aims to bring these domestic events to a wider audience, inspiring more Scots to excel.
Details for each of this weekend’s events can be found below:
Scottish National Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth
Sat 4 March: All-Around Competition; Sun 5 March: Apparatus Finals, Women’s Team Competition & Disability Masters
Tickets start from £6 and are available from scottishgymnastics.org or at the event on 4 and 5 March, subject to availability.
Scottish National Table Tennis Championships, Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth
Sat 4 March: Men’s & Women’s Singles Championships. Sun 5 March: Doubles Finals, Junior Championships
The men’s singles competition begins at 10am on Saturday and the women’s event at 12 noon. Entry to the event is free.
Click here to find out more.
Scottish National Squash Championships, Edinburgh Sports Club, Edinburgh
Fri 3 March: Preliminary rounds from 5pm; Sat 4 March: Preliminary rounds from 11am, Men’s & Women’s Semi-Finals from 3pm; Sun 5 March: Men’s & Women’s Finals from 2.45pm
Click here to find out more.
Team Scotland qualifying standards for Gold Coast 2018 and Bahamas 2017 Youth Games could come under threat as almost 600 athletes flock to the Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Saturday 28 January, the second event in the Team Scotland Series 2017.
With selection windows for both the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games open, the stage looks set for a day of top class action. Ten of Team Scotland’s record breaking Glasgow 2014 team appear on the start-lists, alongside three 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games medallists and a host of Scottish internationals, as both senior and under 17 athletes battle it out for the chance to be crowned Scottish champion.
The Team Scotland Series is a ground-breaking collaboration which brings together Scottish Championship events across 12 Commonwealth Games sports. Part of Team Scotland’s work to support member sports and champion the ongoing success of Scots on the national and international sporting stage, it aims to bring these domestic events to a wider audience, inspiring more Scots to excel.
Jon Doig OBE, Chief Executive at Commonwealth Games Scotland and Team Scotland Chef de Mission for Gold Coast 2018, said:
“The Team Scotland Series is an exciting collaboration between our member sports, aimed at raising the profile of these important Scottish Championships events and the part they play on the road to representing Team Scotland.
“This is the second event in the series and scottishathletics is building on Judo Scotland’s fantastic opening to this new initiative, with what is set to be a highly competitive event. I look forward to seeing more future Team Scotland athletes in action at the Emirates Arena on Saturday, whether they are targeting a place at Bahamas 2017, Gold Coast 2018 or beyond.”
As athletes chase medals, titles and qualifying standards, scottishathletics President, Leslie Roy believes there is plenty to look forward to on Saturday:
“I think we are in for a fantastic day of athletics, with an opportunity for athletes to post a Commonwealth Games qualifying standard and indeed for our younger athletes a Commonwealth Youth Games qualifying standard,” said Leslie.
“Although 2017 is only a few weeks old, we have already experienced some top performances at the Emirates Arena with Laura Muir breaking the British 5000m record just after New Year and then the scottishathletics National Open producing a number of highlights and many PBs.”
Action starts at the Emirates Arena on Saturday 28 January from 10am with the last final taking place around 5.30pm. Tickets are available on the door, priced £5 for adults and free for Under 16s.
As a huge year for Scotland’s athletes begins, Team Scotland is excited to announce a ground-breaking collaboration across Scottish sport, with the launch of the new Team Scotland Series.
Developed as part of Team Scotland’s work to support member sports and champion the ongoing success of Scots on the national and international sporting stage, inspiring more Scots to excel, the Team Scotland Series brings together 17 Scottish Championship events across 12 Commonwealth Games sports over the next year. All the action kicks off this weekend with the Scottish Open Judo Championships in Edinburgh.
Across all sports, the Scottish National Championships play a key part in most athletes’ sporting journeys, acting as a launch pad towards representing Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. The 2017 Series will see Scottish champions crowned throughout the year, from judo and athletics in January through to the Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships in December. Many of the Series events also mark qualifying opportunities for Scotland’s athletes on route to Gold Coast 2018 and Bahamas 2017.
The launch of the Team Scotland Series also sees the extension of the Team Scotland ethos for each Games, with all sports coming together as one team, uniting in shared aims. Now these sports will work together throughout the year, helping to promote each other’s events on the Team Scotland Series programme. This collaboration aims to raise the profile and media coverage of all events and, with backing from BBC Scotland to cover the Series and live stream a selection of the events, fans will have a front row seat to witness athletes on the journey from promising talent to Team Scotland star.
Paul Bush OBE, Chair of Commonwealth Games Scotland said: “The Team Scotland Series is a really exciting initiative which will see us working in partnership with sports governing bodies to highlight and promote the key competitions that are the bedrock of Scottish sport, as well as serving as important selection events for the Commonwealth Games and Youth Games.
“Almost every athlete who competes for Team Scotland at the next Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and onwards to 2022 and beyond, will have competed in their sport’s Scottish Championships on their path to international success, so when we are watching these events we are watching Team Scotland’s future stars in action.
“I am particularly delighted that BBC Scotland has recognised the important role that the Team Scotland Series will play in showcasing the best of Scottish sport and the build-up to Gold Coast 2018 and I would like to thank them for their support.”
This project builds on the existing close working relationship between athletics, swimming and cycling and Mark Munro, Chief Executive at scottishathletics, is excited to widen collaboration across Scottish sport with both the Indoor and Outdoor National Athletics Championships included in the 2017 Series: “We’re pleased for athletics to be involved in the Team Scotland Series, linking the National Championships across a number of sports. Any opportunity to raise the media profile of Commonwealth Games sports in this country can only be a positive.
“If you look at Scotland track and field teams down the years then you will find those athletes have always come through the Scottish Seniors at some stage in their careers.
“Whether it is the Senior Indoor Champs at this time of year or the Senior and Para Champs outdoors in August, we believe these championships should be a major goal for athletes and coaches in Scotland. They should be looking to ‘Perform When It Counts’ and give their season’s best performance, or even personal best performance, on that platform.
“We are supportive of any approach which seeks to raise the profile of National Championships across the spectrum of Scottish sport and look forward to watching the Team Scotland Series unfold across the year.”
Excited that judo will get the 2017 series underway this weekend, Glasgow 2014 gold medallist Euan Burton said: “The Scottish Open has always played a part in the development of Scottish judo athletes. All our medallists from Team Scotland in Glasgow 2014 had utilised the event at some stage along their performance pathway.
“In all sports, that goal of competing in the Commonwealth Games is a progressive journey, which includes the key milestone of a Scottish Championships. The Team Scotland Series is a great way to highlight the importance of these events. I’m really proud that Judo is the sport to kick it all off on Saturday.”
The 2017 Team Scotland Series includes the following events:
14 January – Scottish Open Judo Championships
28 January – Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships
3-5 March – Scottish Squash Senior Nationals
4 March – Scottish Table Tennis Championships
4 March – Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships
1 April – Boxing Scotland Elite Championship Finals
29 April – Hockey Scottish Cup
3 June – Scottish Netball Finals
30 June – Scottish Open Swimming Championships
15/16 July – Scottish 50m Shooting Championships
24-29 July – Scottish National Bowls Championships
20 August – Scottish Road Cycling Championships
26 August – Scottish Beach Volleyball Championships
26 August – Scottish Athletics Championships
September – Scottish National Bowls Championships
TBC – Scottish National Track Cycling Championships
9 December – Scottish Short Course Swimming Championships