Samuel couldn’t be ‘hoopier’ after winning gold at the Special Olympics

Samuel Scott is pictured with the gold medal he won for skippering GB to success at Special Olympics

Samuel (22), who is autistic and plays his domestic basketball for Glasgow Eagles second team, also works part-time as a waiter at Hamilton’s Avonbridge Hotel.

“This really means a lot to me,” the 5ft 11’ attacker told the Extra. “Captaining Great Britain was a real honour. It is one of the biggest things I have won, along with winning with Scotland at the 2017 National Summer Games in Sheffield.

“We were the favourites to win the gold in Abu Dhabi.

“But even so I was still really surprised that we managed to get to the final and beat the USA 26-20.

“They were four points up on us at one point but we came back after the second quarter and played really well.”

Great Britain – whose nine-man squad also included seven English players and a Welshmen – had qualified for the final via three group stage wins. One of these successes was a walkover against Israel who were disqualified for fielding a player who didn’t have a disability.

Samuel said that the playing arenas at the event were “fantastic with first class facilities”.

Among the healthy contingent of British fans cheering on the team were his mum and dad, Jacqui and Barry.