COWDENBEATH bowler Billy Allan admits his Commonwealth Games selection is a dream come true - and is now determined to strike gold.

There are just seven days to go until the opening ceremony at Celtic Park, but it is the beginning of the lawn bowls events at Kelvingrove the following day that the Cowdenbeath Bowling Club member is fully focused on.

He has been picked to play in the B6/B7/B8 Open Triples alongside Kevin Wallace and Michael Simpson and having won gold in the 2013 Eight Nations Commonwealth Invitational Championships, Four Nations Championship, and in home internationals, he is in confident mood.

Billy told Times Sport, “I am fairly confident that if everyone plays to their capabilities then things should go well. It is our home ground and an opportunity to showcase what we can do. I’ve been training for this for a year and a half and is the only thing that I am concentrating on. There were 10 of us who went to the Algarve in March for a week of hot weather training and it was our last chance to shine. I had a great week, played some fantastic bowls and I was so happy when I was selected by Disability Sport Scotland to play. I was greetin’!

“Everyone is happy for me because they know what it means to me. It is a dream come true.” Despite pulling a tendon in his shoulder that sidelined him for three weeks, Billy’s preparation for the Games is going well, and he headed to Stirling University yesterday (Tuesday) with the rest of the bowls team before they make their way to the athletes village.

It is a long way from when Billy, of Foulford Place, started to play the sport after being encouraged by his parents following injury sustained while he was in the army.

He continued, “Before I got hurt in the army I was a bit of a keep-fit fanatic, playing squash and used to swim, but it was through my mum and dad that I got into bowls. I started initially to play carpet bowls and then my pal introduced me to bowls outside and I loved it. I’ve since lost my mum and dad and I’d have loved them to be have been able to see me, so that’s a wee bit of a dampener.

“I am excited by it all and the work that has been done to the greens at Kelvingrove has been phenomenal. I’ve been to the World Championships in Australia, South Africa and Kuala Lumpur, and we finished third in Australia and second in South Africa. People have been taking notice and to have people cheering for you is an extra incentive to try and do well.”