The Team Scotland Series will include 17 Scottish Championship events across 12 Commonwealth Games sports over the next calendar year.

Across all sports, it is hoped the Scottish National Championships will act "as a launchpad towards representing Team Scotland at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games."

The series will see national Scottish champions crowned throughout the year, with events taking place over the next 12 months.

Many of the events will provide Gold Coast 2018 qualifying opportunities for Scotland’s athletes, as well as a route to the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in The Bahamas. 

It is hoped the series, which begun yesterday with the Scottish Open Judo Championships, will raise the profile and media coverage of all events.

BBC Scotland will cover the series and live stream a selection of the action.

"The Team Scotland Series is a really exciting initiative which will see us working in partnership with sports governing bodies to highlight and promote the key competitions that are the bedrock of Scottish sport, as well as serving as important selection events for the Commonwealth Games and Youth Games," said Paul Bush, the chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland.

"Almost every athlete who competes for Team Scotland at the next Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and onwards to 2022 and beyond, will have competed in their sport’s Scottish Championships on their path to international success, so when we are watching these events we are watching Team Scotland’s future stars in action.

"I am particularly delighted that BBC Scotland has recognised the important role that the Team Scotland Series will play in showcasing the best of Scottish sport and the build-up to Gold Coast 2018 and I would like to thank them for their support."

Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games were at home at Glasgow 2014, when they won a record 53 medals comprising of 19 gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze.

That saw them finish fourth on the medals table. 

The next edition of the Games will be held between April 4 and 15 in 2018.

"We are pleased for athletics to be involved in the Team Scotland Series, linking the National Championships across a number of sports," added Mark Munro, chief executive of Scottish Athletics.

"Any opportunity to raise the media profile of Commonwealth Games sports in this country can only be a positive.

"If you look at Scotland track and field teams down the years then you will find those athletes have always come through the Scottish Seniors at some stage in their careers.

"We are supportive of any approach which seeks to raise the profile of National Championships across the spectrum of Scottish sport and look forward to watching the Team Scotland Series unfold across the year."