A 44-strong Scottish team departs next Friday for the Commonwealth Youth Games, in Pune.

A 44-strong Scottish team departs next Friday for the Commonwealth Youth Games, in Pune.

This is the first step on a road leading to the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Glasgow. However, three competitors heading for Pune already have the Games in their genes - six parents who have won 11 Commonwealth Games medals, four of them gold.

Eilish McColgan (1500 metres), is the daughter of Peter and Liz McColgan. Steeplechaser Peter competed for Northern Ireland, while mum twice won 10k gold in the Games (1986 and 1990) for Scotland. Lynsey Sharp (800m) is the daughter of Cameron and Carol Sharp. Dad won Commonwealth relay gold and bronze, plus bronze at 100m (twice) and 200m, while mum competed at 800m. Jennifer McIntosh is daughter of Donald and Shirley McIntosh. Mum won smallbore gold, silver and two bronzes in the 1994 and 1998 Games, while dad competed in the 2002 Games.

Sharp and McColgan are first-year students at Dundee University. They share a flat in Carnoustie and are now coached by former world 10k champion Liz. They first ran against each other in the Scottish primary schools championships, finishing first and fifth respectively. They have since won numerous national titles.

McIntosh is a pupil at Dollar Academy, where her mother and several other top Scottish guns were introduced to the sport. Mum was shooting internationally when Jennifer was a baby. She would cradle her gun, dry-firing (practising without ammunition) after rocking her to sleep. Dad is now GB assistant coach, Scotland's target shooting performance director, and helps with Jennifer's coaching.

The Youth Games open in India a week today with a total of 351 medals at stake in nine sports (athletics, badminton, boxing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling). Scotland will compete in all except tennis.

Each country was allocated a set number of places and had to meet certain standards. In several disciplines more athletes met the criteria than there were available places, but none did so in tennis. They failed to match top-two or equivalent ranking in Britain.

Previous Youth Games medallists include swimmers Kirsty Balfour, Todd Cooper, Andrew Hunter, Robbie Renwick, Hannah Miley and gymnast Daniel Keatings who all went on to compete at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and Beijing Olympics.

The team is backed by the Clydesdale Bank and Emirates, and bankrolled by £110,000 from sportscotland and a £50,000 Government trust endowed in 2002.