South Lanarkshire Council

Held in Daegu, South Korea, the team played in a seven-a-side format, the team netted a hat-trick of wins following successes in Bahrain 2010, Lanarkshire 2011 and now again this year.

The team, coached by former Kilmarnock FC player Stevie Hamilton, had been selected from across North and South Lanarkshire, and built on the great performances at the Games held in Lanarkshire in 2011.

The draw looked quite daunting with the young Scots facing Switzerland, Russia and Greece in the group stages. However, the boys excelled and ran up an impressive 9-1 win over the Swiss followed by another emphatic 6-1 triumph over the Russians before winning a keenly contested 6-4 match against the Greeks.

After winning the group, the team were paired against the Irish in the semi-final and snatched a 3-2 victory to set up a re-match against the Russians in the final.

Despite the earlier high scoring win against the same opponents, the final proved a far tighter affair, with the match going to extra time before the Lanarkshire boys powered to a 4-1 win to grab the gold medals.

Coach Stevie Hamilton said: "This is a wonderful achievement again from the boys against some really good sides from around the globe.

"The Games provide an outstanding opportunity for the young Team Lanarkshire athletes to compete on the international stage and to achieve their sporting ambitions.

"To have retained the gold medal status for three consecutive tournaments is impressive in any competition, and the boys and coaches deserve enormous credit."

Following on from the highly successful 45th International Children's Games, this year's team competed in four sports - athletics, swimming, football and tae kwon-do against some of the best young athletes in the world in the 12-15 age group.

For more information about the Games which were held from 12-17 July please go to the Daegu International Children's Games 2012 website.

You can also keep up to date with all the results on the Lanarkshire Team's blog