UWS graduate Kirsty Gilmour, Commonwealth silver medallist from Glasgow 2014, is bidding to secure a second Commonwealth Games medal as part of the Scotland badminton squad for the 2018 Games on Australia’s Gold Coast in April.

       24 year old Kirsty, who graduated from the Ayr Campus with a BA in Creative Industries, has since become a European silver medallist on two occasions and will be competing at her third Commonwealth Games.

      Kirsty won her first senior caps at 16 years old and became the youngest badminton player to  attend a Commonwealth Games for Scotland when she competed at Delhi 2010 having just turned 17. At Glasgow 2014 she became the first Scottish woman to reach a Commonwealth Games Badminton Singles final, winning silver.

       Kirsty commented: “I’m ecstatic about competing in my third Commonwealth Games, and it will be a very different experience than my previous ones. In Delhi I was there to soak it all in and gain experience and then in Glasgow I was second seed and met that expectation with a silver medal.

       “This time however, the competition for the three medals in ladies singles will be fought between maybe five or six of us, so really anything can happen. It’s going to be tougher not having the Scottish crowd right behind me like I had in Glasgow but I’m sure they’ll be with me in Gold Coast in spirit.”

        The Badminton competition will take place from 5-15 April. The Mixed Team competition will be the first event on the programme and is followed by the Singles and Doubles events.