STEPHANIE KERNACHAN feels Glasgow 2026 is her destiny after missing out on previous Commonwealth Games before coming out of retirement.

The 33-year-old returned to action in 2022 after three years of coaching and she has been rewarded for her return to form with an unexpected second chance to compete in a home Games.

The Falkirk-based boxer, who is originally from Castlemilk in Glasgow, said: “When it came in 2014, I was really hoping to be able to get into a Games there, because I’ve been boxing nearly 19 years.

“To see clubmates going to the Games, Charlie Flynn was one of my clubmates at the time when I was at Newarthill.

“It was the first time that women’s boxing was being introduced into the Commonwealth Games, so they weren’t as sure the women were up to standard at that point in time, so they didn’t send any women in 2014.

“In 2018 there were only three weight categories, and I couldn’t get down to the weight so I missed out.

“By the time 2022 came around I’d retired. I retired in 2019, I was coaching, so 2022 wasn’t happening.

“My coach talked me into a comeback in 2022. I won my national championships, was performing really, really well, managed to get back into the Scotland squad, and then I got selected for the World Championships in Liverpool just at the end of last year, and since then the Commonwealth Games was a target.

“That’s one thing I’ve always been wanting to do. After the Worlds, I thought, you know what, let’s go for it, let’s try everything I’ve got, let’s get through these selections while I’m performing at my best.

“Here I am, I’m selected and I’m going to a home Games as well.

“Maybe it’s meant to be, not long ago when Victoria withdrew and then Glasgow took it up again, I went, this is it, it’s meant to be, this is my time. I’m from Glasgow, it’s in Glasgow, let’s go.”