Commonwealth

The BBC Alba deal means there will still be some live coverage of the Commonwealth Games on free-to-air television in Scotland.

The commentary and presentation will, of course, be predominantly in Gaelic.

A similar deal is in place in Wales. This means there will be some live coverage on the Welsh language broadcaster S4C.

These deals happened because TV rights packages are available to cover many indigenous languages across Commonwealth countries – not just the main language.

The BBC was outbid for live English language rights in the UK by subscription service TNT. Channel 5 later secured a package of two hours of daily recorded highlights.

The Welsh and Gaelic deals ensure there will at least be some free-to-air live coverage.

BBC Alba and S4C are available to all viewers in Scotland and Wales respectively.

But the profile of the TV coverage will, inevitably, still be much lower to that afforded to previous Commonwealth Games in the UK.

The games in 1970, 1986, 2002, 2014 and 2022 got wall-to-wall coverage on BBC One.

The schedule on BBC One is currently dominated by the World Cup and Wimbledon. Major sporting events have the potential to bring large, diverse groups of people together to share memorable moments.

The deals covering BBC Alba and S4C are good news for these channels and inevitably some who do not speak Gaelic or Welsh will watch too.

But how will the scaled down Commonwealth Games fare without high profile live coverage on a major free-to-air channel?

Saving pools from closure has long been a passion project for Scott, an erudite advocate for the importance of people learning to swim as well as the role such centres play as community hubs.

But while a refreshed Tollcross will contribute to that, it is the week or so when the pool will be unavailable for public use that are the key dates in Scott’s summer.

The Alloa swimmer clanked back up the road from the Birmingham Games four years ago with six medals around his neck – 200m free and 200m medley gold adding to four bronzes.

It took his tally to 13 across three Games and propelled his past the record held by shooter Alister Allan. And few would bet against him butressing it further this year.

Scott has yet to decide which events to enter in Glasgow, but concedes he is likely to take on a slightly less frantic schedule than in 2022 given he has “four more years in the legs and arms”.

“There’s a few individual ones I’d like to swim and I’m always willing to put my hand up for the relays, because that’s a big thing in Team Scotland,” he adds.

“But the records are not something that I ever get too caught up in, and it’s not something that really motivates me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve won the medals I have but it’s just about getting better all the time for me.”

With 13 medals between them, Alex ‘Tattie’ Marshall and Paul Foster lead the Scotland bowls team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.

The vastly experienced duo will link up in the men’s pairs event, which they won at Glasgow 2014.

Marshall, who has seven Commonwealth Games medals in his collection, said of his eighth selection: “It is always such an honour and privilege to be selected to represent Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

“To have another opportunity to be a part of a home Games is also not lost on me, and I know that Paul and I will give it our very best to try and win a medal for the team.”

Marshall’s niece Beth Riva, who won 2025 World Championship mixed pairs gold with Jason Banks last year, joins Caroline Brown in the women’s pairs.

Banks will make his Team Scotland debut in the singles event.

Bowls Scotland announced the host nation’s squad on Tuesday, with the Commonwealth Games bowls events running from 24 July to 2 August.

For the first time in Commonwealth Games history, all of the bowls and para bowls events will be played indoors, taking place at the SEC Centre.

In the para team, Pauline Wilson, Garry Brown, Robert Barr and his director Sarah Jane Ewing are all aiming for repeat golds after topping the podium at Birmingham 2022.