IT was the day of the comeback kid as Adam Cox took his first senior all-around title in seven years at the Scottish National Gymnastics Championships in Perth yesterday.
The Livingston gymnast, a veteran of two Commonwealth Games and a bronze medallist in Melbourne, quit before Delhi 2010 after his coach Tan Jia En lost his job only days before they were due to fly out.
Cox, 26, retired from the sport but returned to training last autumn with his sights set on the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"It was a good competition," he said. "I'd put in a few new skills: some didn't pay off as well as I'd hoped – I had a mistake on parallel bars – but I was pleased with high bar.
"This is only our first qualifying competition for Glasgow and we still have time to improve. It's good experience to be able to go out and do these new skills so early on with a year still to go.
"I'm happy. It's good progress and I'm pleased with the way things are working. I'm not 100% yet but as long as I can keep pushing forward I'll be on the right track."
Tom Barnes (Rushmoor) finished second in the men's all-around competition with Grant Millar (West Lothian) third.
Amy Regan (City of Glasgow) lifted her fourth consecutive senior women's all-around title as her campaign for Glasgow next summer got off to a stellar start, meeting the Commonwealth Games qualifying standards on vault and floor in the process.
The 18-year-old posted an overall score of 52.367 at Bells Sport Centre to place herself in contention for an all-around spot in Glasgow next summer – the only gymnast to do so yesterday.
"I tried not to think too much about it, I just went out, stayed calm and focused on the job at hand," she said. "I'm so pleased to win my fourth title in a row – it feels incredible, a bit surreal. To meet the qualification standards as well – I couldn't be happier."
Emma White (City of Birmingham) took silver in the women's senior competition with Cara Kennedy (City of Glasgow) claiming bronze. White narrowly missed the all-around qualification standard for Glasgow 2014.
It marked a new beginning for her, too. White competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne but her dreams ended in heartbreak in Delhi four years later after a knee injury forced her to head home for surgery before competition even began.
White returned to training in January and yesterday was her first contest since 2010. While reluctant to get too far ahead of herself, she was pleased to gain the qualification standard on floor.
"I missed gymnastics and that's why I wanted to come back," she said. "I felt nervous today, but think I actually enjoy it now more than I used to. It's a good start and I'm looking forward to seeing how the next few months go."
Kennedy also met the qualifying standard on vault and floor and Kirsty Campbell (Dundee 2K) achieved it on vault. Among the men to post the qualification standard was Cox (pommel horse and high bar) alongside his City of Glasgow team-mates Douglas Ross (vault) and Liam Davie (high bar).
There were mixed emotions for Andrew Mackie (Independent) who, after a faltering start on pommel horse, retired from the competition only moments into his rings routine after tearing a muscle in his chest.
Mackie competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games but retired before Delhi. It is his hope to return as an apparatus specialist for next summer in Glasgow.
He was disappointed but not disheartened just five weeks since he returned to training.
"I feel frustrated, but I'm definitely not giving up," he said. "It's only a setback – I've been back five weeks and injured for two. To be honest I came into today without any real expectations in terms of Commonwealth Games qualification standards. It was more about getting competition experience."
Louise McColgan (Largs) and Erin McLachlan (Diamonds) won the women's espoir and junior titles respectively.
Daniel Iley (Exeter) is the men's junior champion, while David Weir (Largs), Joshua Lincoln (Bury) and Lucas Thomson (West Lothian) took victory in their respective youth, intermediate and boys categories.
Today the individual apparatus titles will be contested.
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