THE chairman of Boxing Scotland is confident that his athletes will build on recent successes thanks to increased funding for the sport.

The country's boxers won four medals at last year's Games in Glasgow - including golds for Josh Taylor and Charlie Flynn - but the governing body has targeted a total of at least one more for the 2018 Games in the Gold Coast, and Richard Thomas is confident that the expertise and finance needed to meet that ambition are now in place.

Last week Sport Scotland announced that boxing will receive a four-year budget of more than £2.5million - an increase of 45 per cent from the previous period. "The increased investment in conjunction with our High Performance Centre reflects our potential," Thomas said yesterday. "We are confident that Boxing Scotland will continue to deliver medal success, providing a catalyst for growth of existing and new clubs.

"We firmly believe that boxing can once again become a national sport that can be accessed by all. Undoubtedly, the increased investment is reflective of our success over the last four years and I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Boxing Scotland family, the majority of whom are volunteers."

Taylor said he had witnessed significant and sustained improvement since he was first chosen to represent his country. "When I made my international breakthrough there was very little in the way of support for Scottish boxers competing at the highest level.

"Since then, I have witnessed things improve significantly year on year under Boxing Scotland with the introduction of a Scottish High Performance Centre and a comprehensive performance programme that now allows our best boxers to train, spar, and be the best prepared they have ever been ahead of the 2015 Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games and 2018 Gold Coast games."