THE Commonwealth Games were a huge part of my badminton career but the fact that the 2014 Games will be in my home city of Glasgow has given the event an extra significance for me.
It has been a joy to be involved in the preparation for this summer's Games even though I will not be competing, with one of the most thrilling moments for me coming when I carried the Queen's Baton in East Renfrewshire.
I was nominated to be a baton bearer by Team Scotland and it was an absolute privilege to be involved in the baton relay, which has been a triumph for the past 33 days.
Carrying the baton, which has been around all 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, has something of a magical quality to it - it was strange holding something I know has been touched by people as far afield as Malawi, Zambia and Barbados.
Until the baton arrived in Scotland last month, though, I had underestimated just how enthused people in this country are about the Commonwealth Games. It has been heart-warming to see so many people line the streets to cheer and clap the baton bearers around Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article