Scotland’s Imogen Bankier and her Edinburgh-born partner, Robert Blair, have been named as the No.7 seeds at the forthcoming Yonex All-England Open in Birmingham.

Bankier and Blair were unseeded last year and sprung a huge surprise when they reached the quarter-finals – they only lost out to the English top couple of Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms.

Susan Hughes, who failed to qualify last year, has a place in the main draw, and is fortunate to have drawn a qualifier in round one The Glasgow 26-year-old has moved up to No.28 in the latest world rankings, and now has a chance of getting even closer to the top 20.

The big surprise is that Scotland’s Jillie Cooper and England’s Mariana Agathangelou – the Bank of Scotland International Champions – have been split in the women’s doubles.

Agathangelou teams up with Bankier, while Cooper has been put alongside Sarah Bok. Both pairs have to qualify.  

The All-England is part of the Super Series and is recognised as one of the world’s major badminton tournaments – it is shuttlecock’s Wimbledon.