Kieron’s called up to Scots squad for Oz
Basketball star Kieron Achara is the latest Stirling athlete to be selected to represent Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast in April.
The sport makes its return to the Games for the first time since 2006 and having represented GB at the Olympics in London in 2012, Kieron brings a wealth of experience to the squad.
The Glasgow Rocks player said:“I am really excited to be part of Team Scotland for the first time having missed out in 2006 due to injury.
“It is a unique opportunity for us to represent Scotland and the whole team have been working hard to ensure that we are the best prepared team on the Gold Coast this April.
“Having been part of Team GB at London 2012, I know how special multi-sport events are and being part of the wider Team Scotland will be a really enjoyable experience for the whole team.”
The team will get their Commonwealth campaign underway in Townsville on April 5 with a crucial game against England before facing Cameroon and India in their other Pool B games.
The former Stirling High School pupil joins a host of local sports stars in the Scotland squad.
Dollar sisters Jen and Seonaid McIntosh will be hoping to land Commonwealth Games gold in shooting.
Older sibling Jen has already picked up five medals to make her Scotland’s most successful female athlete at the Commonwealth Games based on the number of medals won and will be a favourite to add more.
The sisters had an impressive 2017. At the European Championships in Baku they both claimed individual gold before combining with England’s Katie Gleeson to take gold in the team event.
And it was a similar success story at the Commonwealth Championships when they finished first and second in the Prone event with Seonaid also claiming gold in the Three-Position.
Seonaid , the younger sister, was a member of the Commonwealth team in Glasgow in 2014.
Also heading to the Gold Coast will be middle-distance athlete Andrew Butchart, who won bronze in the European Cross Country Championships in Slovakia last month and has top-eight finishes in both Olympic Games and World Championships on his record; Stirling University Grant Sheldon and former student Marc Austin (triathletes), plus six swimmers – reigning Commonwealth champion Ross Murdoch, double Olympic medallist and world champion Duncan Scott, Scott McLay, Craig McLean, European silver medallist and world finalist Kathleen Dawson and former world junior champion Craig Benson.