Motherwell badminton ace Alex Dunn hopes every part he has sacrificed for the game is geared toward a gold medal on the 2022 Commonwealth Video games.
The 23-year-old has risen to prominence lately, alongside doubles associate Adam Corridor from Mauchline, and the pair gained silver on the European Championships in Madrid two months in the past.
Dunn is conscious that expectation ranges have risen for the pair, however says they’re prepared to fulfill that head-on.
He mentioned: “I feel that is our time. In comparison with the final Video games, myself, Adam and the workforce undoubtedly have totally different expectations on this one.
“We’re seeking to do as finest we are able to, to hassle these pairs as we all know we are able to do on the day.
“We’ve obtained to do every part we are able to to place ourselves in that place that we need to trigger an upset, we need to get that medal, and I’m wanting ahead to the problem.
“All the things has been constructing as much as this. After the final Video games, when the expectations have been totally different, I believed ‘I’ve obtained the subsequent 4 years to principally get myself into the place the place I can get that gold medal’.
“We’ve been making an attempt to steadily construct it up with the lower-level tournaments, and now we’re difficult and taking part in the World Tour tournaments, so it has been a gentle development and we proceed to be on that monitor, so hopefully we are able to go additional.”
When requested what a medal would imply, Dunn was instantaneous along with his reply: “All the things. As an athlete that is the most important occasion to this point, so quite a lot of my devoted life to his sport might result in this second and it could be the most important factor.
“It might imply every part.
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Dunn says badminton has are available for lots of reward, and expectation amongst Group Scotland is that they may very well be within the medals.
He mentioned: “From what I’ve heard from the teaching workforce, Group Scotland has been giving badminton basically quite a lot of reward.
“I feel that’s resulting from our construction, the gamers’ arduous work, the coaches’ arduous work and that of everybody round us.
“We’ve obtained seeded pairs in every of the large World Tour tournaments, whereas it used to simply be Kirsty Gilmour.
“Kirsty has been the participant for the previous seven or eight years, and has been grabbing all of the headlines for badminton in Scotland – and rightly so.
“However we would like it to develop, we would like it to be not simply her, and particularly on the workforce occasion.
“I prefer to suppose, wanting on the workforce occasion, that myself and Adam have the chance to do fairly effectively in these Video games.
“We simply hope we are able to present that after we get there.”
Dunn additionally hopes he can have an affect on these gamers who're rising within the sport.
“I’d prefer to suppose I’m hopefully inspiring somebody on the market, particularly within the Lanarkshire space,” he mentioned.
“As an athlete you need to encourage the subsequent technology, in order that someday myself or Kirsty Gilmour might be changed by possibly somebody higher – that will be excellent.”
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