Wednesday 11 October 2000
Scottish squash sisters, Gillian and Pamela Nimmo, are among the latest top athletes to receive Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) awards from sportscotland Lottery Fund.
Pamela (23), who is the Scottish no one and ranked number 17 in the world, has been on the programme for the past three years and says that the support has been invaluable.
"Without Lottery funding, I would not be in the position I am now. The funding will help me to prepare for important competitions such as the British Open starting this week and also the World Individuals taking place in November.
"This is essential if I am to improve my performance and move up the rankings."
Sister Gillian (20) will use her funding to pay for a programme of training and competition which will help to improve her performance and hopefully raise her overall ranking.
Through the Talented Athlete Programme, sportscotland makes awards to Scottish athletes who are performing at the top of their sport or who are showing real promise. The money covers expenses such as equipment, training, travel to competition, coaching, sports medicine and sports science.
In some cases, living costs are met, which can include time taken off work in order to train full time and concentrate on preparing for competitions.
Also benefiting this month are badminton with awards totalling over £139,000 and swimming with awards totalling over £56,000.
Ian Robson, Chief Executive of sportscotland, said: "Sport has an important role to play in improving both the health and quality of life of our communities.
"By investing in our top athletes and helping them to achieve international success we can create role models to encourage everyone to recognise the huge benefits to be gained from taking part in sport."