Jack Laugher is confident he will be fully fit to partner Chris Mears in their bid to deliver gold for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

The Olympic champions were on Monday named alongside Tom Daley in a 13-strong diving squad for the Gold Coast, with the Games set to get under way at the start of April.

Laugher won Great Britain’s first Olympic diving gold alongside Mears in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard event in Rio.

The 23-year-old underwent ankle surgery during November 2017, and believes he is on course to help Team England make a major splash Down Under.

“I am back in the pool and training pretty hard,” Laugher told Press Association Sport.

“I am not back to full fitness yet, there are still some things I am restricted on, but that will come with time. We are still eight weeks out or so.

“Overcoming surgery at any time of your career is difficult. I am keeping as positive as possible.

“I am just going to work hard with my team, the doctors and the physios, to make sure that I am in the best possible shape for the Commonwealths.”

Gold Coast 2018 will be the third Commonwealth Games where Laugher and Mears have competed, the duo collecting gold in Glasgow four years ago.

Mears, 24, feels they will head to Australia with renewed focus after coming down from the high of their Olympic success.

“It was difficult afterwards to get our heads around. We were a little bit down and deflated after it, which I think is the only way you can go from that, which was an ecstatic winning performance in Rio,” Mears said.

“But we are both focused, we have our goals that we are constantly trying to achieve, both for the Commonwealth Games and the rest of the season.

“We are just constantly trying to work better ourselves.”

Daley, meanwhile, will head to Australia looking to add to the three Commonwealth gold medals he claimed in 2010 and 2014.

The 23-year-old, world champion at the 10m platform, will also take part in the 3m synchronised event.

“I had a great year last year, retaining my 10m title at the World Championships, and I am hoping that I can build on that and put in some great performances out on the Gold Coast in April,” Daley said.

Another 2014 champion featuring in the England squad to travel to Australia’s Gold Coast is Alicia Blagg.

Seventeen-year-old Matthew Dixon, who last month won the 10m platform title at the British Championships in Daley’s absence, is also in the group. The Plymouth Diving athlete competed at the Glasgow Games aged 14.

Meanwhile, brothers Jack and Ross Haslam, from Sheffield, are set to take part in the 3m synchronised category.