Hopes of a home win at next week's Scottish Open Grand Prix at the Emirates Arena have been hit by an ankle injury suffered by world mixed doubles silver medalist Imogen Bankier.
The Glaswegian, who will turn 26 next week and has won a string of titles in both women's and mixed doubles, is favourite for the women's event with her Bulgarian partner Petya Nedelcheva and among the contenders in the mixed, where she has successfully reformed the partnership that won this title six years ago with her fellow Scot, Robert Blair from Longniddry. The pair have earned fifth seeding for next week's event.
Yvette Yun Luo, head coach of badmintonscotland, revealed yesterday how Bankier had picked up the injury that is threatening her participation. "Imogen rolled her ankle yesterday [on Monday]," she said. "It's was just an accident at the end of a session, but it's sprained."
Bankier, who has also won the Scottish Open mixed doubles title with Chris Adcock - her partner when she won the world silver medal - has previously expressed excitement at the prospect of playing in the upgraded event at the venue that will host the Commonwealth Games badminton competition. She will, then, be desperate to ensure she can line up at the Emirates.
Yun Luo, though, made it clear that the right decision will be taken for the player's longer term interests. "I don't really know for next week," said the coach. "She definitely wants to play and sometimes it can be difficult to predict, even if you make very good progress, [but] she's maybe going to struggle because we've got so many tournaments coming up after it. We don't want to take risks."
A decision will be taken by the experts. "We have a medical team who will give us their assessment of whether she will do more damage if she plays," said Yun Luo.
The tournament gets under way a week today, with Bankier's fellow Scots Kirsty Gilmour and Jillie Cooper in line to step up to first seeds in the women's doubles should she be forced to withdraw. Gilmour is also second seed in the women's singles.
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