Commonwealth Games 2018: Athletes to watch

Gold Coast, April 3: The 2018 Commonwealth Games get underway on April 4, with the opening ceremony kicking off 11 eventful days of competition across 18 different sports.

Australia are staging the Games for a fifth time, with Gold Coast seeing off competition from Hambantota in Sri Lanka to be named as the host venue.

A total of 71 Commonwealth nations and territories will be represented, with beach volleyball and women's rugby sevens making their debuts.

Here, we look at some of the notable names who could make the headlines in the coming weeks.

Dan Halksworth

Halksworth is a sporting chameleon. The 32-year-old will be competing at his third Commonwealth Games; he represented Jersey in the pool in 2006, swimming the 200 metres and 400m individual medley, finished 17th in the triathlon in 2014 and now, four years on, is part of the island's cycling team. "My old coach used to say I was a Jack of all trades and master of none and I think I've carried it on through my life," Halksworth told BBC Sport. If at first you don't succeed...

Elaine Thompson

While Usain Bolt is no longer running on the track - and potentially plotting a career in professional football instead - Jamaica are still likely to have one of the star athletes in Thompson. The 25-year-old was only part of the relay team in Glasgow but is now a household name after completing the 100m and 200m double at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The sprint king is retired, long live the sprint queen!

Emma McKeon

Winning one gold medal is impressive, but six? Australian swimmer McKeon has the potential to do just that when she competes in the 100m and 200m butterfly, the 200m freestyle and three relay events. Susie O'Neill set the individual record of six gold medals at one Games at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, a feat fellow Aussie Ian Thorpe matched at the 2002 Games in Manchester. McKeon can match her compatriots in the pool, but will competing in front of her home fans be a hinderance or a help?

Anna Hursey

Hursey has been playing table tennis since she was five years old. Nothing unusual in that really - except she's only 11 now. Yes, 11. Hursey - who honed her skills while attending an elite training camp in China - will become the youngest person to represent Wales when she competes in Australia, though she will also have to occasionally forget about playing to do her homework.

Tom Daley

Still only 23, Gold Coast will be Daley's third Commonwealth Games, having picked up two gold medals in Delhi in 2010 and then a gold and silver at Glasgow. He will be competing in the individual and synchronised 10m platform events, teaming up again with Dan Goodfellow in the latter after the pair claimed bronze at the 2016 Olympics.

Caster Semenya

Semenya will carry South Africa's flag at the opening ceremony as she bids to add a Commonwealth medal to her vast collection of titles. The 27-year-old, who did not compete at the 2010 and 2014 Games, is a double Olympic champion at 800m, making her the overwhelming favourite to strike gold at the distance inside the Carrara Stadium. Do not rule out a double either, as she is expected to contend for glory in the 1500m too.

David Katoatau

Weightlifter Katoatau made history when he won gold in the 105-kilogram category at the last Games, in the process claiming Kiribati's first ever Commonwealth medal. He celebrated his success in style, dancing on stage to the delight of the crowd. However, Katoatau's moves come with a motive, as he dances to raise awareness about the climate issues that threaten his homeland, an island in the central Pacific Ocean. "As a sporting representative of my country, I am begging you to save us," he wrote in an open letter in 2015.

Source: OPTA