Badminton: Scots to protest at snub

SCOTLAND are to protest about the exclusion of all their players from the British Olympic squad announced on Wednesday. A letter of complaint is being sent to the British Badminton Olympic Committee by Anne Smillie, the chief executive of the Scottish Badminton Union, who yesterday described the omissions as 'staggering'.

The Scots are especially upset about the exclusion of their national champion, Anne Gibson, particularly as the most controversial selection was of the little-known Kelly Morgan. Gibson beat Morgan in the Commonwealth Games.

Neither of the English women's singles players, Joanne Muggeridge and Suzanne Louis-Lane, are strong prospects to do well. Furthermore, only one women's doubles pair (from England) has been named, when two can go to the Olympics. The Scots want to know why the Allen sisters, Jenny and Elinor, have not been included.

The Olympic manager, Andy Goode, said: 'Some Scottish players did not help their cause by playing in Canada instead of in the first tournament of the British Grand Slam, but the way is still open for them to be included.'