A FURTHER five local sports stars have been selected for Scotland's Commonwealth Games team to travel to Australia.

Olympic mountain biker Grant Ferguson has yet again been chosen to wear the Scotland lycra.

The highly adaptable 23-year-old from Peebles, who won elite British Cyclocross National Championship title in Sunderland last month, competed in both the road and mountain bike events at Glasgow 2014.

Grant will be joined in the Scotland cycling team by fellow-Peebles rider Isla Short.

The 21-year-old fought back from a year of injury and illness in 2015 to retain her place at the forefront of cross country cycling in the UK.

The 17-strong Scottish cycling team also includes Olympic champions Katie Archibald and Callum Skinner.

Tandem pairing Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston take to the boards once again, after double silver in Glasgow 2014 while Neil Fachie, double gold medallist four years ago, teams up with Matt Rotherham in the Men’s Tandem events.

West Linton's Jo Pettitt has retained her place in the 12-strong Scottish Thistles netball squad.

The 22-year-old was one of the Thistles' youngest athletes at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The former Peebles Netball player will be joined in the squad by Biggar's Emily Nicholl.

The 23-year-old dedicated last year to her sport after graduating in Law from Edinburgh University.

Fellow law graduate Sarah Robertson from Selkirk has retained her place in the 18-strong women's hockey squad.

The 24-year-old has been a full-time player with Team GB since the end of last year.

And she was part of the Scotland team who played in the last Games.

After qualification for the World League semi-finals in 2017 and a successful recent test series against Wales, the women's hockey team will be looking to build on sixth place at Glasgow 2014.

Scottish Hockey CEO David Sweetman said: “Our players and staff are fantastic ambassadors for hockey.

"We look forward to cheering them on as they compete in Australia and we wish the whole of Team Scotland the very best of luck for April’s Games.”

A further 92 athletes across 10 sports were announced this week as part of the Scotland team for Gold Coast 2018.

West Linton's Chris O'Hare, Gordon's Sammi Kinghorn and Berwickshire's Guy Learmonth have already been selected for the athletics squad with Lucy Hope from Jedburgh and Beth Johnston from Galashiels competing for Scotland in the pool.

Further selections, including the Rugby 7s squad, will be announced in March.

The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will run from April 4 to 15.