Scottish junior shooters Kay Copland of Banff, (pictured right) and Jennifer McIntosh of Falkirk, (pictured left) became Commonwealth Champions today.

The pair, aged 18 and 19 respectively, won the Women's Three Positions team gold medal at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Delhi.

The Championships are the test event for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games shooting competition and are being staged at the same venue which will host the sport at the Games this October.

Scotland has not won a medal before in the pairs although McIntosh's mother, former Games medallist Shirley, won an individual medal in this competition in 1997.

Today the Scots produced a new Championships record with 1136 points - McIntosh with 573 and Copland on 563. Wales and India tied in second place, just one point behind. Wales took the silver on the tie-break.

Copland and McIntosh also beat the Scottish record for the pairs, set by Susan Jackson and Emma Cole-Hamilton in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, by 10 points.

"This is the first time the two have paired up so this is a great result," said Donald McIntosh, sportscotland's Performance Programme Manager for Shooting, with the team in Delhi this week.

"Jen has been shooting in the Three Positions for two years now, and won medals in this event at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008 and in last year's Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

"Kay made her debut in the Three Positions last August, and came second to Jen in the Scottish championships."

McIntosh and Copland are both supported by the Grampian Institute of Sport, part of sportscotland's institute regional network which provides high performance expertise to Scotland's potential world class talent.

Both competed in the Pune Commonwealth Youth Games in October 2008. There, Copland was victorious in the 50 metres Rifle Prone, whilst McIntosh won a silver medal in the Three Positions.

Today's result increases both girls chances of competing for Team Scotland in this October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"Jen made the qualifying standard today, six points over it in fact, and already has three or four other qualification scores," said Donald McIntosh.

"Kay has achieved the qualifying standard in the other women's events, prone and air, the latter set last week in The Netherlands in only her third ever match. I would expect her to reach the qualifying standards in the Three Positions during the spring or early summer."

Both Copland and McIntosh will shoot in the Three Position again on Sunday for the individual title.

Article by Rob-Eyton Jones; Picture by Donald McIntosh