Keatings out for season with injury

A STRONG Scotland gold medal prospect for the Commonwealth Games has been lost after gymnastics European champion Daniel Keatings was ruled out of the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury in training.

The 20-year-old last month pipped British team-mate and Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith to win gold on the pommel horse at the European Championships in Birmingham. But a few days later he landed awkwardly during a routine and a subsequent scan showed he had damaged his anterior cruciate ligament.

Keatings was operated on at the Lister Hospital in London and faces a recovery schedule of up to nine months, ruling him out of the World Championships in Rotterdam in October and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi the same month.

"The good news is (the surgeon] said the operation was a great success and after rehabilitation I would be back fitter and stronger than before," said Keatings, who was born in Corby but represented Scotland in the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

"The down side: rehabilitation is six to nine months and I've been told I'll be unable to compete until this time, which means I'll miss this year's World Championships. I'm disappointed but the GB team does contain a group of strong and excellent gymnasts who will be fighting to get into the team."