Colin Fleming admits pride at Commonwealth Gold

Oct 14 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

COMMONWEALTH Games hero Colin Fleming has admitted his enormous pride at bringing a gold medal back to Scotland.

The tennis star won the gong after a mixed-doubles triumph in Delhi alongside partner Jocelyn Rae against the No 1 seeds, Aussies Paul Hanley and Anastasia Rodionova.

And the Linlithgow lad admits playing under the banner of Scotland, instead of Great Britain, was a rewarding experience.

He said: “It’s still a little bit surreal, to be honest, as I didn’t expect to go and win it but it has been nice to get home to share the victory with my family and friends.

“They all watched the final and have been pretty excited.

“It’s starting to sink in and it is a great feeling.

“I didn’t expect how proud I would be to be representing Scotland at the Games.

“Normally in tennis, you play for Great Britain but to be playing for Scotland was very different and produced different emotions on the court –I think really brought out the best in me.”

Remarkably Fleming and Rae had never teamed up on court before and the early signs didn’t look good as they crashed to a defeat in their first set as partners at the Games.

But they bounced back in style and progressed through the rounds before downing the Aussie favourites Hanley and Rodionova — already the women's singles and double champ at these Games — on Court One at the RK Khanna stadium.

Fleming said: “I had never teamed with Jocelyn before, so that lowered expectations.

“We had a shocker in the first set of our first match and lost it pretty quickly.

“But we managed to win the match and then we got on a roll.

“Once we went on a run, we were wondering why couldn’t we go all the way?

“In the second match, we beat the No 2 seeds, so that gave us confidence.

“I didn’t really worry when we fell behind in the first set as the semi-final was always going to be a tougher match because it was to get into the final.

“Once we were in the final, we were guaranteed at least silver.

“We just stayed relaxed and, thankfully, got our game going.

“Jocelyn hit the winning shot and it was really surreal at the time. It took a while to sink in but there were quite a few supporters there and it was great to share the moment with them.”

The West Lothian ace headed home after the event with his cherished medal in his pocket to prepare for a tournament in Moscow this weekend but he reveals he failed in a bid for a flight upgrade on his return home from Delhi earlier this week.

“I didn’t manage to get an upgrade which I thought was a bit mean of the airline, but I still had a nice flight home and it was great to arrive back in Scotland,” he added.

“I now have two weeks in Russia as I get back to my normal tournaments, so, hopefully, I’ll do well in those.

“Winning the gold medal is a real confidence boost, which I hope I’ll take into the rest of my events this year.

“But it is such a unique event, it stands alone. It is something I’ll always be proud of and never forget.”