SCOTLAND'S swimmers further boosted the country's medal tally at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India, with Strathaven's Douglas Scott winning gold in the 50 metres breaststroke. Soon after, namesake Daniel Scott from Glenrothes took silver in the 50m butterfly, capping a fine day in the pool.
Douglas Scott won his final in a time of 29.54 seconds, equalling his personal best and Scottish junior record while setting a new Commonwealth Youth Games record.
"I was quite pleased with it, but I thought I would have swum a bit better and gon
e a little bit faster," said the 18-year-old after beating Warren Karsten of South Africa and Singapore's Jia Hao Ng into second and third place respectively.
"But it's great to win gold especially in these outdoor conditions where it's really hot and the 50 metres is one of my weaker events. The 100 and 200 events are stronger so this will hopefully set me up well for the 100 metres breaststroke tomorrow."
The team's swimming coach, Ian Wright, said afterwards the gold medal was a "great boost to his team". Minutes later, Daniel Scott lowered his personal best of 24.69 secs, set in the butterfly heats, to finish behind India's Dhaval Khade Vir in a time of 24.38 secs to claim his silver.
The third Scottish medal of the day came in wrestling, courtesy of Clydebank 17-year-old Craig McKenna, who had made it through the first two rounds of the 50kg event on byes.
"In my first match today I got beaten by an Indian, but in my bronze-medal match I beat an Australian 3-1 in the first round and 2-1 in the second," he said.
"I got a lucky draw at the start of the weigh-in, with byes in the first two rounds which definitely helped me get a bronze medal today. Before I came I was hoping to wrestle well and maybe sneak a medal so to get the bronze is absolutely brilliant.
"I'm going to back to Scotland to work my training and fight towards (the 2010 Commonwealth Games in] Delhi, and I'll definitely be fighting towards Glasgow (2014]. They're the two biggest steps for me right now."
Scotland are guaranteed a further three medals in boxing after flyweight Josh Taylor from Prestonpans, Jonathan Slowey, a featherweight from Glasgow, and Fauldhouse light welterweight Robert McKee reached today's semi-finals, each securing bronze at least.
"It's been a great experience so far and it will be good to get a medal," said Taylor. "I'm looking for the gold."
In the badminton event, Edinburgh's Martin Campbell and Paul Van Rietvelde from Longniddry have both reached the semi-finals in the singles where they each face Indians, and a partisan home crowd.
"It's a massive thing for us both to get this far and it will be a massive thing to win a medal as well," said Campbell, who would be more than delighted to meet his friend Van Rietvelde in the final.
The full article contains 512 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
