Siblings Jason and Carla Banks will make their debuts at the World Outdoor Bowls Championship later this year.
The brother and sister from Inverurie have been selected in the Scotland squad for the tournament on Australia’s Gold Coast which runs from August 29 to September 10.
Jason, who is a former World Indoor Under-25s champion and this year reached the World Indoor Singles final, has been selected to play alongside Iain McLean in the pairs event and with Alex Marshall, Paul Foster and Derek Oliver in the fours competitions.
Carla is a former World Indoor mixed pairs finalist and will play in the triples with Caroline Brown and Stacey McDougall. The trio will also play in the fours alongside Claire Anderson.
Reflecting on their selection, Carla, 24, said: “It’s a real honour to be chosen for the World Championship, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.
“I’m delighted that Jason is in the team as well, it’s a really special thing to be doing it together.
“If either one of us was going it would be great, but to both be selected makes it even better.
“Jason has definitely helped and inspired me. Even when we were really young he showed a great talent for bowls and got in the Scotland team.
“And I thought ‘wow, I want to do that.’ That made me stick in at bowls because it’s nice to see someone close to you doing it.
“I thought if Jason could do it then maybe I could do the same, his attitude and the effort he puts in is something to look up to.
“Our whole family is to thank really because we both got into bowls by going down to the club with our grandparents.
“It’s gone from there really and our mum and dad have been massive influences on us as well and without them we wouldn’t be playing bowls.”
A great achievement
The World Outdoor Championship is usually staged every four years, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic this is the first since 2016.
Competition to be selected was fierce and Carla added: “There’s a lot of competition to try to make the team and making into the high performance squad is a great achievement in itself.
“Scotland is one of the best, if not the best, country for bowls in the world.
“So to make it into the team of five for the World Championship is amazing.
“This event and the Commonwealth Games are the two biggest in bowls and the ones everyone wants to play in.”