BADMINTON: Former World No.1 Gail Emms coming to Crawley

The English National Badminton Championships are being held in Crawley later this month and former world champion Emms, who already has 12 national titles to her name, will return to contest the mixed doubles - a decade after becoming the world number one.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal winners and world number six pair Chris and Gabby Adcock lead the nation’s big names who will be heading to Crawley this time around from January 30 – February 1.

Top men’s singles player Rajiv Ouseph will also be chasing an amazing eighth consecutive national title, while Sussex’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Heather Olver will be hoping to win on her home patch.

Emms last won the mixed doubles national title nine years ago, when she paired Nathan Robertson to glory in Manchester, but will play with Cheshire’s rising star Matthew Nottingham, the 2011 European junior champion, in Crawley.

The 37-year-old said: “This year is a big milestone for me personally as I celebrate the 10-year anniversary of becoming world number one as well as some big achievements on the international scene, such as winning the YONEX All England title.

“I want the badminton community to come out and support our top players again. Glasgow 2014 was a great success for English badminton and a lot of those stars will be on show at the K2.

“It’s a great intimate venue and really goes back to the roots of the Nationals.”

After a five-year break from competitive top class badminton, Emms briefly came out of retirement to compete at last year’s Championships, reaching the quarter-finals in both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

She is one of over 200 of England’s best badminton players who will head to K2 to compete for national titles.

For more information about the tournament or to buy tickets go to www.badmintonengland.co.uk/nationals.