Olympic, World and Commonwealth medallist Daniel Purvis will lead the line-up of stars competing at the 2017 Scottish National Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Perth.
The 26-year-old returns to the Bell’s Sports Centre next month after winning the men’s Scottish title for the last three years.
He will join an array of talented young gymnasts including teams from the Community School of Auchterarder, Dundee Gymnastics 2K and Balwearie in Fife.
For all of the competitors, it will be a first opportunity to attain the qualification standards for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Purvis will be competing against other members of Team Scotland from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, including his Southport club teammate Frank Baines and City of Glasgow’s Liam Davie.
Current Scottish women’s champion Cara Kennedy and Carly Smith, both from the City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club, are the other two members of the 2014 Team Scotland who will be in Perth.
This year’s event takes place on Saturday March 4 and Sunday 5 at Bells, which has become a regular venue for top level national and international gymnastics competition.
It is part of the first-ever Team Scotland series, which brings together 17 Scottish national championships across 12 Commonwealth Games sports.
England-based Purvis said: “It’s always fantastic to come back to Scotland for the national championships and it will be exciting to see who the new champion will be this year.
“The last four years have been tough and it has been good to have a little break after a hard Olympics cycle.
“I’m now getting my body back into competition, and building up to the Gold Coast 2018.
“It would be nice to reach qualification standard in the first event this year. It is a new routine, so I’m just looking to put in clean performances and hopefully some good qualifying scores.”
As well as world-class gymnasts, spectators can see Scotland’s rising stars and international competitors in action over the weekend.
The first day will see competition over all pieces of apparatus and the Scottish individual all-around champions crowned.
On the second day, gymnasts will battle it out for the individual apparatus medals, the women’s artistic team event and the disability masters.
Sam Hendrikson, Scottish Gymnastics Head of Performance, said: “The national artistic championships are always exciting and allow spectators to watch some of the country’s most successful gymnasts as well as the stars of tomorrow.
“This year, there is an extra buzz as our leading gymnasts have the chance to make their bid for next year’s Commonwealth Games.
“However, these championships are also essential for the development of gymnasts in our performance programmes, who have the potential to deliver longer term on the international stage for Scotland and Great Britain.”
Tickets are available in advance from scottishgymnastics.org.
