ATHLETES from the Commonwealth islands of Mauritius, Niue and Dominica have been welcomed to Scotland — by Inverclyde’s Provost.

Now he is calling for Inverclyders to support one of them during the remainder of the Glasgow Games, as part of the ‘support a second team’ initiative. Provost Robert Moran took part in welcome ceremonies for the countries at the athletes’ village in the Dalmarnock area of Glasgow.

He said: “The village welcome ceremonies were a chance for each community in Scotland to give our visitors a warm welcome.

“I hope people across Inverclyde will join me in supporting our second teams as well as backing Team Scotland.

“Look out for Mauritius, Dominica and Niue in the Commonwealth Games and give them your support.” Competitors from Dominica, a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea, can be seen in the table tennis, athletics and boxing events.

The South Pacific nation of Niue, which has an estimated population of less than 2,000, are involved in the weightlifting, athletics, shooting and lawn bowls contests.

The Mauritius team are competing in wrestling, athletics, badminton, swimming, table tennis, cycling, boxing, triathlon, squash, cycling, mountain biking, triathlon and judo.

Provost Moran exchanged gifts on behalf of Inverclyde with the Chef de Mission (team manager) of each of the Commonwealth teams.

During the visit to the village, he also met the president of Mauritius, His Excellency Rajkeswur Purryag, who attended the ceremony to support the team.

He added: “It was a pleasure to meet teams from across the breadth of the Commonwealth.” Details of competitions and results for all 70 competing nations in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are available online at www.glasgow2014.com