David Millar ready to fight for Scotland

David Millar hopes to use the 2010 Commonwealth Games to repay Scottish cycling for their support since his return from a doping suspension.

The 32-year-old was given the go-ahead to compete in the event in Delhi next year after Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) reneged on its decision to ban him for life for using EPO.

"I am absolutely delighted with the decision," Millar, who served a two-year suspension from all cycling in 2004, said. "It would be an honour to race for Scotland and to give something back to the country that has given me so much.

"I am proud to be a Scot and feel that I have been supported incredibly through the bad times as well as the good by Scotland.

"I made mistakes as a younger athlete in a dirty sport, and I will have to live with those mistakes for the rest of my life, but I have changed and I know I bring something beneficial to not only cycling, but also sport as a whole."

Millar, part of the Garmin-Slipstream team, should have little trouble qualifying for the Scottish squad heading to India. He competed in the Tour of Italy and the Tour de France this year and won a stage on the Tour of Spain. "If the example I give and education I provide can prevent a younger version of me from making the same mistakes I made, then I could not ask for more," he said.

Jon Doig, the CGS chief executive, said: "The CGS board felt that since his return to cycling David has become an active campaigner and educator about doping in sport and has gone to great lengths to rehabilitate himself and share his experiences with others in an attempt to promote the anti-doping message."