Badminton: Mason and Bankier united

BACK together again on the badminton court, Edinburgh's Emma Mason and Glasgow's Imogen Bankier face Thailand's Savitree Anitapai and Vacharaporn Muntiel in the first round of the women's doubles at the Yonex All-England Super Series in Birmingham.

But there was no place in today's main draw for Edinburgh's Jillie Cooper. The 21-year-old did manage to reach the final round of qualifying in two events– but tripped up at the final hurdle.

In the mixed, Cooper and England's Chris Langridge scored a battling 10-21, 22-20, 21-9 victory over Mason and England's Andrew Ellis but the pair then lost out 15-21, 17-21 to Japan's Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Mizuki Fujii.

In the women's doubles, Cooper partnered England's Samantha Ward to a 21-6, 21-12 win over the Michelle Li and Anna Rice, but a second Canadian duo of Grace Gao and Joycelyn Ko took the coveted final qualifying spot with a 21-13, 21-16 scoreline.

In the mixed doubles, Bankier and Edinburgh-born Robert Blair are hoping they get the chance to build on last week's great effort in reaching the final of the German Open while Scottish Champion Susan Egelstaff is in the main draw for the women's singles and takes on Japanese youngster Sayako Sato in the first round.