Andrew Gilliland kept a famous badminton �family name to the fore yesterday when he qualified for the men�s singles in the Bank of Scotland International Championships at his first attempt.

Andrew Gilliland kept a famous badminton family name to the fore yesterday when he qualified for the men's singles in the Bank of Scotland International Championships at his first attempt.

The 17-year-old from Bearsden defeated Marcel Sommerfield, of Germany, 21-16, 21-17 in his qualifying group final and will meet the Belgian Frederic Gaspard in the first round proper at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall today.

Gilliland was not even born when his uncle, Billy Gilliland, won pairs gold in the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in partnership with Dan Travers, now the national coach.

His parents, Alan and Mary, brother Stuart and sister Jaclyn, all play and so Andrew, a junior internationalist who has just joined the under-19 national squad, is well placed for support and encouragement.

Gilliland, who is not short of ambition, scanned the draw and noted that his second-round opponent would probably be the No.8 seed, Denmark's Peter Mikkelsen. "I'd love to play him. I've never seen him play, but I've noticed his name and he always seems to get quite far in tournaments," he said, "but I've got to win my first-round match."

Gaspard has a world ranking of 228 while Gilliland is unranked and making his first steps on to that ladder, having returned to training just a week ago following a six-week lay-off caused by a stress injury to his left ankle.

"This is the first tournament I've trained for this season and the ankle was fine today," said Gilliland, who trains at the Glasgow School of Sport and is coached by Ray Stephens.

Two more Scots, Paul Van Rietvelde and Martin Campbell, were promoted to the main draw, bringing the total of Scots in the 64-strong men's singles main draw to nine.

Van Rietvelde fills the place of Poland's Przemyslaw Wacha, the No.1 seed, who pulled out with a shoulder injury. In an all-Scottish tie at 10am today, he will face Kieran Merrilees, 19, who has just been called up to the Great Britain training squad, and is favoured to make it through. He recently qualified in the Hungarian Open and progressed to the semi-finals, beating the No.2 seed along the way.

Campbell, the Scottish under-19 doubles champion with Angus Gilmour, who just failed to make it into the first round, faces Ian Mercer, an English qualifier, while Stephen McPhail, Kenneth Young, Gordon Thomson, Craig Goddard and Jamie Neil are also in action today.

In the women's singles, the prospects for Scotland's Susan Hughes, the No.2 seed, improved yesterday when Portugal's Filipa Lamy, the No.8 seed, withdrew. The pair had been on course to meet in the quarter-finals and Hughes should have a clear run to the semis where, if results go to form, she will meet England's Jill Pittard, the No.4 seed.

Three other Scots are in first-round action today, Linda Sloan, Kirsty Gilmour and Lisa McMullen.