Bowls: Darren Burnett eyes comeback after broken arm in line of duty

Darren Burnett picked up Commonwealth Games gold medals in 2014 and 2018

A badly broken arm is bad news for a police officer, even worse for a champion bowler.

An injury sustained in the line of duty has left Darren Burnett with a metal plate and "nine or 10" screws in his left arm.

The double Commonwealth Games gold medallist, 44, has been off work since the incident in December, while his surgeon is optimistic he will make an 80% recovery.

But Burnett is determined to return to the top of his sport.

"I went in pursuit of somebody and unfortunately I slipped or stumbled," explains the Arbroath constable.

"As soon as I hit the ground, I knew something significant had happened, there was a crunching noise followed by quite a bit of severe pain.

"The time it took me to fall, didn't just change that day, it changed the future for me."

Now in the midst of a long and gruelling period of rehabilitation, he will meet up with the Scotland squad in Ayr later this month and will soon begin an office-based phased return to the police work he has done for 26 years.

"It was mid-January, when the indoor world championships started and I wasn't there, I started to think 'am I ever going to get back to that?' But the more the months have gone on, the more positive I have become.

"I am lucky I play bowls and not golf or something where both arms are equally used. My bowling delivery is mainly my right arm, my left arm just takes a natural position down by my side.

"I am looking forward to getting out on the greens and from the practice I had this week, I was playing well. I was happy with my first throw so I didn't feel it was presenting a problem and I am excited looking forward."

'It makes you stop taking things for granted'

Burnett, who has three world indoor gold medals and multiple world outdoor medals, has represented Scotland at five Commonwealth Games and is hoping to make it six in Birmingham next year.

"A lot went on from a health point of view, not just the break in my arm, but one or two other things," he said. "It just makes you rethink, that there is ultimately more to life than bowls, there is more to life than my work, there is more to life full stop.

"It makes you stop taking things for granted. If you want something you have got to work hard to get it.

"There is nothing more important as a bowler than to try and make the Commonwealth team, it is the biggest thing in our sport.

"That day potentially could have ended a lot of things for me but, thankfully, now I am in a more positive place."