Milngavie badminton queen aims to keep her crown
BADMINTON ace Imogen Bankier has been tipped to win the mixed doubles title for the fourth year in a row and the women's title for a third consecutive time at next month's Yonex Scottish National Championships in Perth.
The 22-year-old is seeded top for both events, with her partner from last year, Watson Briggs, in the mixed and Emma Mason in the women's doubles.
Imogen, who is from Milngavie but now lives in Milton Keynes were she trains full time with the GB squad, said: "The most dangerous pair in the mixed are Longniddry's Paul Van Rietvelde and Edinburgh's Jillie Cooper, who are seeded second."
And in the women's doubles, Bankier believes the main threat to the title she won last year with Jillie will come from the 2009 runners-up, Glasgow pair Linda Sloan and Susan Egelstaff.
Imogen and Emman have already made a cracking start to the year, reaching the semi-finals at the Swedish International in Stockholm last weekend.
The pair battled their way through a series of tough games to reach the last four and set themselves up for the Scottish Championships, which will take place in Perth between February 5 to 7.
Imogen said: "In reaching the last four we defeated Germany's Kim Buss and Claudie Vogelsang 21-14 21-13 then knocked out Ukrainian fourth seeds Gann Kobtseva and Elena Prus 21-15, 21-14."
However, the women's hopes were dashed when they fell to Dutch duo Lotte Jonathans and Paulien Van Dorremalen 21-16 21-9.
The previous week the Scottish pair — who have both had a rocky year of recovery due to injury — celebrated their return to winning ways with a victory at the Wimbledon National Elite Open.
Second seeds Bankier and Mason dropped just one game on the way to the title, and that was in the semi-final when they edged out joint third seeds Mariana Agathangelou and Hayley Connor, from England, 12-21 21-16 21-14. Agathangelou was Mason's partner at the Bank of Scotland International when they were runners-up.
In the final, Bankier and Mason came up against their Scotland team-mate Jillie Cooper and England's Samantha Ward, and after a close first game, the Scots went on to win the title 21-19 21-15.
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Weather for Milngavie
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
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Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
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