WHEN David McMath lines up at his maiden Commonwealth Games in April, there will be an extra layer of pressure on top of the usual tension that comes with representing Scotland at the highest level. The 21-year-old, who last week was confirmed as one of 11 shooters in Team Scotland for Gold Coast 2018, knows this is his last chance to win major championship silverware in his discipline, double trap, although he will also compete in clay target.
With it being announced that double trap was to be dropped from the Olympic Games from 2020, McMath must switch events following the Commonwealth Games and so he is desperate to go out on a high.
“I’d definitely want to win a medal since this is my last opportunity,” he said. “So there is a bit of pressure but I feel like a medal is a realistic prospect. I’ve had some pretty good results around the world this year so I’m feeling good.”
That McMath is targeting a spot on the podium is remarkable. The Castle Douglas shooter only began taking the sport seriously two years ago having been introduced to it by his father and grandfather as a teenager and he admits that when watching Glasgow 2014, it never crossed his mind that just four years later, he would be competing in a Commonwealth Games himself.
He is now one of Scotland’s top shooters and with that comes the opportunity to travel the world for competition and training. With a gun not the easiest piece of equipment to transport, he admits that he has employed some unusual tactics in the past to avoid any extra questions in airports.
“Sometimes at airport security they’ll ask you what’s in your case and so I’ve made things up before,” he said. “I used to say it was a trombone - until someone told me that a trombone is massive. So I had to change that. Normally it’s OK though, we don’t have too much trouble.”
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