Kirsty Gilmour heads into one of the biggest tournaments of her season this week having been boosted by picking up a prestigious award in her home city.

The 21-year-old badminton player was the inaugural winner of the newly introduced Glasgow Athlete of the Year Award, introduced by the city council to mark the Commonwealth Games and given to the Glasgow-based medallist who had produced what the judges considered the most outstanding performance at that event.

Gilmour wrapped up the Scottish team effort by claiming the last of their 53 medals in becoming the first Scot ever to contest a Commonwealth Games singles final at the Emirates Arena in August.

Commitments elsewhere, having contested the German Open last week before heading for London during what is one of the most intense periods of a season that will see the launch of her Olympic qualifying campaign, meant she missed the weekend's glitzy Glasgow Sports Person of the Year Awards ceremony, held at the City Chambers.

"I'm absolutely delighted to have won Glasgow Athlete of the Year," she said however.

"Thanks to everyone who voted and supported me over the last few years. It really means a lot and I appreciate every text, tweet and message.

"The last few years have been incredibly tough but my medal at the Games made it all worth it and is definitely my career highlight to date. "

What made Gilmour's efforts in 2014 all the more remarkable is that it can be debated whether her Games performance genuinely was the highlight, given her extraordinary victory at the Spanish Open when beating current world women's singles champion Carolina Marin in her own backyard in the final.

It was the only defeat in tournament play inflicted by a fellow European on the Spaniard in the past year, during which she went on to shock the leading Asian players at the World Championships.

Yet these Glasgow Awards also go some way towards demonstrating the difference between the haves and the have-nots of the elite sporting world.

A year ago Andy Murray, picked up the top prize - the Glasgow Sports Person of the Year Award -, while fellow racquets specialist Imogen Bankier, Gilmour's Commonwealth Games women's doubles partner who also claimed a medal at Glasgow 2014 in the mixed doubles with Robert Blair and is considered Scotland's greatest ever female badminton player, received the Leader's Special Award, marking her magnificent career to date.

Yet while Murray has spent the interim re-shuffling his entourage in bidding for a return to Grand Slam glory, fellow 27-year-old Bankier is currently competing on a part-time basis having begun a six month business work experience programme as she assesses her longer term options.

Gilmour is consequently the only Scot guaranteed a place in the main draw at Britain's biggest annual open tournament this week.

She opens with a brutally tough meeting with Tai Tzu Ying, from Taipei whose seventh seeding matches her world ranking.