Scottish table tennis players are to receive a £144,255 funding boost from sportscotland to help develop the sport and increase participation ahead of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Table Tennis Scotland will use the funding to recruit its first national coach in a bid to ensure that Scotland is among the top eight table tennis-playing nations in the world by 2014, while two part-time overseas practice partners have also been hired to prepare the Scottish team for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games in India. Scottish sports minister Shona Robison said: "This funding for table tennis in Scotland will ensure more people get involved in the sport and help prepare our existing athletes as we gear up for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and Glasgow in 2014."

Jonathan Whitaker, chair of Table Tennis Scotland, added: "This is a major new investment in our sport from sportscotland. It not only supports the role of the national coach and our Chinese practice partners, it enables us to appoint a full time national development manager to help us grow the participation in table tennis at all levels."