Scotland’s Christopher Grimley has today been named in the Team GB squad to compete in the Youth Olympic Games next month.
The British Olympic Association named Grimley and England’s Grace King as the badminton contingent in a 42-strong squad which will compete in 17 of the 32 sports on the programme across 12 days of competition.
Scotland’s Performance Coach Andy Bowman has been appointed as the Team Leader for badminton and will travel to Buenos Aires with Grimley and King for the Games from 6-18 October.
Grimley, who is currently in Tallin, Estonia, preparing to represent Scotland at the European Junior Championships, described his elation on his selection, saying: “I’ve been trying to qualify for a while so to finally do it and be selected is a big relief and great news.
“It’ll be the biggest event I’ve ever competed at and I’m looking forward to challenging myself against the best players in the world. It’ll be tough but a great experience.”
The Youth Olympic Games plays a crucial role in the development of young athletes from the United Kingdom and across the world, providing significant multi-sport experience for aspiring Olympians and Grimley confirmed he would be aiming to take as much from the experience as he can.
“It’s every athlete’s dream to compete for Team GB at an Olympic event and I’m really proud that I’ll be able to do that in Argentina” he said.
“I’m looking forward to competing but also hoping to build my confidence to try and one day qualify for the senior Olympics.”
Grimley has made an excellent start to the season already, winning the singles at the Lithuania Junior as well as doubles at both the Lithuania and Bulgaria Junior tournaments.
Ahead of the Youth Olympics he will be hoping to continue his momentum in the next couple of weeks at the European Junior Championships in Tallin, where he will be aiming to medal in both singles and doubles – he is seeded No.4 in singles and is top seed in the doubles along with his brother Matthew.