Medals may be beyond their reach but, as they do battle in an Amazon­ian world, Scotland's netball players are a mission over the next few days.

Officially, they are the most rank of outsiders among the Scots who are participating in the Commonwealth Games, but they believe they have made considerable progress in the run-up to this opportunity to sell their sport.

"At the end of May we qualified for the World Cup next year in Sydney when we finished second to Wales in the qualifiers, and that's a big step for Scottish netball," said Lynsey Gallagher, who would be the envy of fellow East Kilbride native Ally McCoist, since she plays goal attack and goal shooter, the only two positions from which players are allowed to score.

"We're ranked 12th in the world, but that's all set to change. We recently played Trinidad and Tobago, who are ranked eighth and beat them in all three Tests, and we also defeated Northern Ireland, who are ranked above us."

The key has been well-directed hard work. "Our new head coach, Gail Parata, has introduced a training programme that has improved our fitness levels dramatically and the results are paying off," said Gallagher. "We're viewed as the lowest ranked nation at the Commonwealth Games but that has set the bar for us. We want to show the world we're not in that position really and to come out of the Games with a position we deserve."

If they can do so, Gallagher knows that they will be able to help themselves by attracting fresh talent.

"Up until a few years ago netball was not a popular sport but it's the mission of everyone connected with Netball Scotland to make it the No.1 sport for girls and women in this country," she said. "It has been really good to see netball become bigger and bigger in recent years and the Commonwealth Games is one of the biggest stages for the sport."