‘Testing’ times secure three-in-a-row as Purvis revels in Perth glory
DANIEL PURVIS has the world at his feet in 2016 but it does not mean he ignores his domestic duties.
The Olympic bronze medallist won the all-around title at the Scottish Championships at the Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth for a third successive year.
In his first competition of a year which he hopes will peak at Rio 2016, he clearly felt good to be working on his routines in a competitive environment after scoring a final total of 85.735 points.
“This was my first competition of the year, it feels really good to get out there and put your hand up,” he said after claiming three titles in the individual apparatus finals, winning the pommels (14.850), the high bar (14.700) and the parallel bars (15.300).
“It was great to test out a couple things and I’m ready to kick off the year. I was really happy with my parallel bars. It was a bit hit-and-miss with a couple of new skills, but I managed to pull it off so it has given me a lot of confidence going in to the rest of the year.”
Purvis’s Commonwealth Games teammate Frank Baines only competed on three pieces of apparatus due to an ankle injury.
“My ankle has been bad for the past week,” he said. “I think if I had of competed on all six pieces of apparatus, it would have just delayed the recovery process. Hopefully I have made the right decision and it will be better soon.
“I felt the competition went well. I had a couple of mistakes on pommel horse but the other pieces went really good – so I am happy with that.”
Purvis will return to Scotland next month to compete at the World Cup in Glasgow as he seeks to take another step on the road to Rio.
City of Glasgow’s Cara Kennedy won the women’s all-around title for the first time with a total of 50.150. 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. email: sport@theherald.co.uk. Tel 0141 302 7156
Sports editor Graham Shields / Deputy sports editor Gordon Stevenson