Many congratulations to all our athletes on their selection for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games Team. It is fantastic to see the length and breadth of Scotland represented from Troon to Aberdeen to The Isle of Islay.
The selection standards have been rigorous and the places limited so simply making the team itself is a great achievement. However I am confident that everyone will rise to the challenge of performing at their very best and will enjoy and benefit from the experience of competing at such a big event.
sportscotland has always believed in the important role that the Commonwealth Youth Games plays in a young athletes’ development, which is why we provided Lottery funding to support the inaugural Games in Edinburgh in 2000 and why we continue to strongly support Commonwealth Games Scotland at both youth and senior level.
The track record of the Youth Games speak for themselves not only in terms of medals won, but more importantly in terms of the number of athletes that go on to compete successfully at the senior Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. Indeed I am sure the whole team will have been inspired by the achievements of fellow Scots in Beijing in recent weeks.
I wish everyone the very best of luck in Pune and I hope that many athletes build on their Youth Games experience to go on to compete and win medals for Scotland in 2010 in Delhi and 2014 when the Commonwealth Games come to Glasgow.
Louise Martin CBE
Chair, sportscotland