ALEXANDRIA’S Rachel Sugden was last week named in the Scotland squad for the Under 17 European Championships, being held in Prague next month.

The Jamestown youngster will take to the court to face some of Europe’s best young players at the event from November 21 to 29.

The next generation of Scottish badminton stars will travel to the Czech Republic with high hopes of success, with half the squad having already won medals at European level.

At the U15 Europeans held in Russia last year, Joshua Apiliga (Glasgow) and Adam Pringle (Giffnock) took a bronze medal in boys’ doubles while Rachel Cameron (Musselburgh) and Rachel Sugden matched that achievement in the girls’ doubles.

All four players will compete for honours this year in Prague and will be joined by Rachel Andrew (Edinburgh), Alice Campbell (Glasgow), Alastair Campbell (Dunbar) and Josh McKay (Stonehaven).

The individual championships will run from November 25 to 29, with the draw to be made on November 7.

The individual event will be preceded by the team event from November 21 to 25, in which Scotland have been named as one of the joint 5/8 seeds among a record entry of 37 nations.

Denmark are favourites to take the title with England also expected to challenge The joint 3/4 seeds are Turkey, who Scotland beat in the group stages last year. France, Germany, Czech Republic and Russia complete the list of seeded nations.

Badminton Scotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie said: “We have some very talented youngsters coming through and we have been able to name a strong squad. Many of the players who will travel to Prague in November have already experienced success at European level and Rachel Sugden is currently in Indonesia representing Scotland at the Under-19 World Junior Championships.”