Danny Keatings and Daniel Purvis are members of a strong British team at this week’s European Championships in Milan – and it is the start of serious preparation for the world championships at the 02 Arena in London in October.

Keatings (Huntingdon), an Olympic all-round finalist in Beijing, and Scottish Champion Purvis (Southport) are joined by Olympic bronze medallist, Louis Smith (Huntingdon), British Senior Champion, Kristian Thomas (Earls), Luke Folwell (Huntingdon) and Theo Seager (Bury).

 “The European Championships will be judged by the new Codes of Points for the London Olympic cycle and therefore represents a great chance to measure our progress against other nations,” said GB men’s Technical Director, Eddie Van Hoof.

“All our gymnasts have a good chance to make finals and perhaps medal. We hope to see a continuation of the development that has brought us great success over recent years.”

Two years ago, Keatings won a senior silver medal on the pommel horse at the European Championships – last year he led Britain to victory in the Junior team event and won the junior all-round title.

The British women’s team is led by former World Champion and Beijing Olympic apparatus finalist Beth Tweddle (Liverpool), who is back from surgery, and British Senior Champion and Beijing All-around finalist Becky Downie (Notts).

The rest of the line-up is Hannah Wilson (Liverpool) and Becky Wing (Heathrow).

British Eurosport will be featuring coverage of the all-around and the  apparatus finals on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th April.