EVERYONE has their own hopes over what the true, lasting legacy of Glasgow 2014 will be.

Aqeel Ahmed is no different. His particular vision of the future, though, can be shaped entirely by his own hands.

The 21-year-old boxer, born in Dundee to a family of Pakistani origin and now resident in Motherwell, is the only athlete with a South Asian background out of more than 300 individuals wearing the colours of the host nation across 17 sports.

Ask him the reason for such a mildly unsettling statistic and he is not entirely sure. All he knows is that his friends from that particular community are interested in sport and tried participating, but found themselves lacking when it came to the all-consuming level of commitment required to become a top-level competitor.

Ask whether he wants things to change, though, and his viewpoint is clear.

The diminutive Ahmed, competing in the light-flyweight division, may be less than eight stones in weight soaking wet, but his shoulders are both broad and ready enough to bear the weight of serving as an example to aspiring youngsters with his own ethnic roots.

He wants to be a trailblazer. He wants Asian kids to see him on television over the next couple of weeks and be inspired. He knows, though, that his intention of winning hearts and minds is largely dependent on overcoming his relative lack of experience and emerging from the Games a success. "I suppose I do feel I am some kind of ambassador," he said. "I feel I am representing a community in Scotland, anyway.

"Things are maybe a bit different in England now, but I want to help set a trend here. I like the idea. I think it would be a good thing. You will probably see more Asian athletes coming through in future, but it would be nice to create a bit of history.

"If I could be successful here and establish my name, I would like to think it would make other Asian kids think about taking up boxing or even another sport. I certainly hope I can win a medal.

"My Asian pals like sport, but, for whatever reason, they don't get so heavily involved. I know a lot of guys who have gone in a couple of days and tried it out, but, with boxing at least, it has to become more than just a hobby to get to this stage.

"It becomes your life rather than something you just go along to on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday."

Cultural issues have often been raised as a possible reason for lack of Asian involvement in top-level sport in Scotland. Ahmed points out that his family have always been rightly proud of his achievements in making it into Team Scotland and they will be out in force at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on Friday when he begins his campaign in the 49kg category.

"My family will let me do what I want and they realise I know what is best for me," he said. "They have been really supportive. I will have a whole load of them behind me."

It is easy to dress up Ahmed as some kind of tartan-tinged Amir Khan, who won the backing of the nation when claiming silver at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Did he watch Khan's Olympic progress in Athens as a 12-year-old obsessed with The Sweet Science?

"I do remember watching him and thinking that I could do that, so he kind of influenced me, but I wouldn't say he inspired me to take up boxing," said Ahmed. "I started pretty late at 15 or 16 and only went along at first because my friends were going and I wanted to see what it was like.

"I had no real interest in boxing. I saw it as a way to keep fit at first, but I loved the sparring, caught the bug and never looked back.

"Boxing has done so much for me. You get more respect in the street when you are out, you learn a lot of discipline and I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't box."

Ahmed does have an interest in becoming an accountant, but shelved those plans temporarily when it became clear he had a live chance of making the team for the Commonwealths.

"I felt I had to focus purely on boxing this year," he said. "I will probably go back to my studies next year, but you've got to put your heart into this completely."

Amid the torrent of publicity surrounding this upcoming sporting spectacular, Ahmed appears to have existed largely under the radar. Of course, there have always been others in the boxing team likely to command greater coverage such as Josh Taylor, who won silver in Delhi four years ago, or the quick-witted and thoroughly likeable Glaswegian Joe Ham.

"I think it is because there was no-one in my weight division for the Scottish Championships and I didn't get to fight on finals night at the Emirates Arena," he said.

"There was a lot of publicity based on that event and it was unfortunate because that was a good platform on which to get yourself established."

Ahmed faces a difficult task in the light-flyweight division with Northern Ireland's Paddy Barnes, an Olympic bronze medallist, defending his Commonwealth title and India's highly-ranked Devendro Laisham among those competing.

The lad from Keir Hardie ABC came second in the respected Popenchenko tournament in Russia last year, though, and admits that experience bolstered his confidence levels at an important time.

"Fighting on the international scene was a new thing for me," he recalled. "I won in Australia recently as well and Russia really set me up to believe in myself. I think that was a turning point."