Beith’s badminton star Eleanor O’Donnell won a bronze medal with Team Scotland at the Uber Cup in France last month.

The 21-year-old competed in the Thomas and Uber Cup – a major international badminton competition comprising of both women and men’s national badminton teams.

Team Scotland took best runner-up after losing to Sweden in the group stages. They then went on to beat Russia, guaranteeing them a place in the semi-final. Although they lost to Germany, Team Scotland still went home with a well-deserved bronze.

Eleanor said: “It was amazing as it was Scotland’s first medal at a women’s team championship event.

“Even to be part of that team playing the best in Europe was great and now knowing we get to go on and play in the finals against the rest of the world is amazing. It’s only the top countries who get to go on to that.”

Eleanor made her Commonwealth Games debut for Team Scotland at Gold Coast 2018 finishing 9th in both the Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

She has also won first in a series of National Championships since 2017.

The Thomas and Uber Cup final was supposed to take place in May but the tournament has been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Eleanor said she is disappointed but is hopeful the event will still take place later in the year. In the meantime, Team Scotland is grateful to have more time to get in the zone.

Eleanor said: “I’m looking forward to it. We’re training from home so we’re not getting on court but it will give us time to mentally prepare and get ready as best as we can to compete.

“It’s great being able to travel the world doing what I love. “