Kelvin Cham admits that, as a kid faced with the choice of gymnastics training or shifts in a Chinese restaurant alongside his parents, there was only one winner.

His initial foray into the sport may have been somewhat accidental but is has proved to be the best decision of his life. After going along to gymnastics sessions with his sister at the age of 7, he discovered that he had a real talent for the sport.

The 19-year-old from Paisley had his selection for Team Scotland for Gold Coast 2018 confirmed just a few weeks ago and he admits himself that he could barely have envisaged in those early days that he would progress to this point. “My older sister did gymnastics and my mum and dad worked in a Chinese restaurant so I went along with her because I didn’t really have any choice,” he laughed.

“I stuck at it to avoid having to do shifts in the restaurant - that was probably the biggest thing, I am not going to lie! I did love the sport though, so I just kept on going and things have just gone from there.”

In 2017, Cham became Scottish all-around champion and his selection for his maiden Commonwealth Games then duly followed. Alongside him in the men’s team for Gold Coast is Olympic medallist Dan Purvis, as well as Frank Baines, David Weir and Hamish Carter and the teenager admits that he cannot wait to make his Games debut.

“It’s great, it is a dream come true,” he said.

“I have been training all my life for this - I can’t wait to get there. Hopefully we can get a team medal and I can do my best individually too.”

The teenager, who is training full-time in the lead-up to the Games, is confident that he and his compatriots can build on the Scottish team’s silver medal-winning performance at Glasgow 2014 as the strength-in-depth of the sport in this country is, Cham believes, amongst the best it has ever been. And to be a teammate of a gymnast of the calibre of Purvis is, he admits, a dream come true. “Training with Dan is great - we’ve trained quite a bit together now and he helps me a lot with tips on things to do and I’ve been trying and feed off him,” he said.

“It’s a bit crazy that he’s now a friend because I used to watch him on television. He is just a normal guy and when he is around the gym, he likes a laugh and a joke.”

Cham may be thrilled to be making his major Games debut next month but he also wants to make sure that this is just the start of things. The recent results of British gymnasts proves that this country can compete with the very best and while Cham takes inspiration from that, he is also well aware of the amount of work ahead of him. “Hopefully I can push on and this will give me more opportunities,” he said.

“Five gymnastics medals (for GB) at the Rio Olympics was crazy and there are lots of juniors down south doing well so the competition is high.

“The dream is the Olympics - you have to aim as high as you can. But I am only a second year senior so I still have a lot to improve on.”