The withdrawal of the experienced pair of John White and Senga Macfie has hit Scotland’s hopes for this week’s European Team Championships in Malmo, Sweden, but there is still good reason for optimism in Sweden.

Alan Clyne and Stuart Crawford have both scored breakthrough wins on the Professional Squash Association this season and they will be joined in the men’s team by Jamie Macaulay, Harry Leitch and teenager Lyall Paterson.

Hoping to improve on last year’s impressive seventh place, they have been drawn in Pool B alongside France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Scottish Champion Frania Gillen-Buchert has Claire Kidd, Lisa Aitken and Alex Clark as colleagues in the women’s team, and the goal is to climb back into the top eight.

Drawn in Group F, they must win all three round-robin matches against Austria, Luxembourg and Poland to have a chance of returning to the elite. A year ago, Scotland’s women finished 12th.