Perth’s James Fleming has battled back from shoulder surgery and is now targeting gold at the Commonwealth Games.

The Rugby Sevens star was included in Scotland’s 13-man squad for the Gold Coast last week ahead of the April event.

Having missed out on representing his country at Glasgow 2014, Fleming is determined to make up for lost time.

“I’m immensely proud to be selected for the Commonwealth Games,” the 30-year-old told the Perthshire Advertiser.

“I missed out on the Glasgow 2014 games and it was four years until the next opportunity, which seemed like a long way away.

“I always feel massively privileged to represent Scotland whenever I get a chance so to do that at a Commonwealth Games is huge.

“Once I had the shoulder operation I knew it would be tight to get back fit for the Games.

“However it was a case of setting wee targets along the way and just controlling what I could to put me in the best position come April.”

The Scots will face Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and South Africa in Pool A, from which the top-ranked team will advance to the semi-finals.

Fleming knows the difficulty in advancing from the group but reckons there is an ideal mix of youth and experience in the squad.

“There is huge potential in this Scotland team and a really exciting mix,” he explained. “From young Darcy Graham who is still only 20-years-old but has the ability to score from anywhere.

“Then we have the likes of Lee Jones who is off the back of playing in the Six Nations and has previously played at two Commonwealth Games.

“There is no denying our biggest challenge will be getting past number one in the world South Africa in our group. But that is a challenge we are all excited about. We beat them last year in Paris and in the cup final in London the year before. “

John Dalziel’s Scottish squad will compete in the seventh leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series before travelling to the Gold Coast.

Fleming is the team’s second top try-scorer of all time - with 112 World Series tries to date.

He is hoping to add more and said: “I had a bit of a bumpy return to the World Series having made my comeback in Las Vegas at the beginning of the month.

“I picked up a calf injury in the second game so had to fly home to rehab that.

“It’s about getting that right now and then flying out to Hong Kong at the end of the month.

“We play on the World Series there before flying in to Commonwealth Games camp.”

Scotland open up their Games against Papua New Guinea on Saturday, April 14.