When para-archer Nathan MacQueen competes at the Paralympic Games later this year, he will have no greater inspiration than his son Casey.

Addiewell ace MacQueen, 29, was one of four para-archers officially named in the ParalympicsGB squad for the Japanese showpiece later this year, having reached the last 16 in Rio five years ago.

After only turning professional a matter of months before travelling to Brazil in 2016, the West Lothian-born star now has his sights on adding to the 864 Olympic and Paralympic medals won by Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes since the advent of National Lottery funding in 1997.

And in between events MacQueen has even more reason to try and produce the goods in the compound open event later this year, with three-year-old Casey sure to be cheering his dad on from home.

“Since Rio, I’ve had a little boy, and I’ve always said that I want to go and win him a medal, so that’s my big motivation to come off the plane and give the medal to my wee boy,” MacQueen said after being officially named in the ParalympicsGB squad.

“It’s brilliant, I’ve been waiting a long time for this, now it’s official it’s like the carrot that we’re all trying to get.

"The hard work starts now. I’m really looking forward to being able to train with an end goal now.”

MacQueen turned his hand to para-archery after being involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident aged 17 having played rugby for Scotland at Under-21 level – and competing for the Scottish archery team beforehand.

And after becoming one of over 1,100 National Lottery-funded elite athletes on UK Sport’s World Class Programme, which has allowed him to train full time and access the world’s best coaches, MacQueen has gone from strength to strength within the sport.

Since Rio, he has shot up the world rankings, having picked up medals on the European Cup circuit, while also finishing seventh at the World Championships in 2019.

And that hard work paid off with a second chance at being able to win Paralympic gold later this year, with Tokyo being the light at the end of the tunnel after a year of uncertainty after the postponement of the Games in 2020.

“I went to Rio and I had only been competing internationally that year, so I went into it pretty fresh-faced. So this is like clarification that I’m actually good at what I do,” MacQueen said.

“It’s been hard to try and stay motivated and focused, but now we know what we’re aiming for it’s made life a bit easier because I can push on and knuckle down now."

But even when things seemed to completely change overnight, MacQueen adapted to different methods of training, with his Paralympic dream always in the back of his mind.

And with 2016 gold medallist Jess Stretton training alongside him – with the loser of their personal duels the one to get the coffees in – he has the perfect preparation for Tokyo, with that competitive edge still very much intact.

MacQueen continued: “We were fortunate that we had an exemption, but there was a time at the start where we couldn’t do much at all, so we had to adjust how we did train.

“So we came up with some creative ideas and loads of silly drills that were really hard - you’d do it twice and you were absolutely knackered.

“We’ll mainly just be competing against each other and other members of the squad, but if competitions are available we’ll be getting out to them and getting more experience.”

No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise around £30 million each week for good causes. Discover the positive impact playing the National Lottery has on sport at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtags: #TNLAthletes #TracktoTokyo