IT was hoped that the Commonwealth Games would encourage people to become fitter and more active as they drew inspiration from the elite sports stars who made Glasgow their home last summer.

Now fresh figures have revealed that the international event has indeed delivered a boost to the numbers participating in sports across the country.

SportScotland, the national agency for sport, say that membership of the 17 Commonwealth Games sports' governing bodies has risen by 11 per cent during the past four years, as buzz around Glasgos 2014 grew.

Among those seeing people taking up their sports are Netball Scotland and Scottish Triathlon, where membership grew by 58 per cent and 49 per cent respectively, and Scottish Gymnastics, who saw a 37 per cent rise in members.

But other, less high-profile sports have also benefited, with participation in table tennis up by 16 per cent, Judo up by 21 per cent and Weightlifting up ten per cent.

Lawn bowls, which made its debut on the Commonwealth stage against the backdrop of Kelvingrove, is the only sport to register a fall in the number of people joining clubs, which were down six per cent.

Sportscotland's chief executive Stewart Harris said that the figures were "impressive" and a testament to the long-lasting success of the games.

He said: "The exciting build-up to the Glasgow Games and the spectacular success of Team Scotland last year has significantly helped raise the profile of sport, and these encouraging figures demonstrate the positive legacy impact of Scotland hosting the Games.

"It is terrific to see increases in the memberships of so many Scottish governing bodies in sports which participated at Glasgow 2014 as well as those that were not one of the 17 sports taking part, and the phenomenal growth in the number of qualified coaches in Scotland is also helping our sporting system successfully cope with a growing capacity. "

Another success story uncovered by the figures is the growing popularity of Scotland's Community Sport Hubs, which were created to link individual clubs together and were a key plank of the Scottish Government's 2014 legacy plan.

At the end of 2013/14 there were 113 hubs, a number that has now grown to 134, supporting 818 individual clubs with 86,373 members participating in 49 sports across Scotland's 32 local authorities.

Since 2010, Sportscotland has invested around £1.5 million of Lottery funding each year into the Hub system, with an eventual goal of creating 150 across all 32 of Scotland's local authorities by 2016.

Mr Harris added: "Community sport has been considerably strengthened by our investment into clubs and Regional Development Officers for our sports' governing bodies, our strong partnerships with the sports and local authorities, as well as the growing number of Community Sport Hubs across Scotland.

"Supported by investment from the Scottish Government and National Lottery, we now have a very sophisticated sporting system with more and better opportunities for people to take part in and enjoy sport at school, community, and performance levels."

Growth has also occurred in the 13 Olympic sports outwith the games, as they collectively recorded a nine per cent increase in membership during the same period.

Sports Miniser Jamie Hepburn said: "It's tremendously encouraging to see this evidence of increasing interest in sport. To see the governing bodies attracting more members, and more clubs joining the Community Sports Hubs, is a real sign that sport is on the up in Scotland. I'm also pleased to see such an enormous increase in the number of registered coaches.

"The legacy of the Commonwealth Games was to inspire people to take part in physical activity, whether that is through a formal sports club or just taking regular exercise. Team Scotland did us proud in Glasgow with a record medal haul, now it's up to all of us to make sure that Scottish sport continues to grow and prosper."