Badminton: Scotland reach European Championship finals

Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier claimed the mixed doubles bronze medal at Glasgow 2014

Scotland sealed a spot in the finals of the European Team Badminton Championships with a 4-1 win over Czech Republic in Prague.

The victory ensured Scotland finished top of Group 2.

They will join host nation Belgium, holders Germany, Denmark, England and Russia in the February finals in Leuven.

Scotland beat Switzerland 4-1 on Friday and Latvia 5-0 on Saturday, ahead of their meeting with the Czechs.

Commonwealth Games mixed doubles bronze medallists Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier gave the Scots a winning start by beating Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova 21-7 21-19.

But the Czechs drew level when Petr Koukal edged past Kieran Merrilees 21-18 21-17.

Commonwealth silver medallist Kirsty Gilmour saw off Zuzana Pavelkova 21-16 21-16 to edge Scotland ahead again before Blair and Paul Van Rietvelde beat Pavel Florian and Ondrej Kopriva 21-16 21-14 to claim the winning lead.

Bankier and Gilmour then overcame Sarka Krizkova and Katerina Tomalova 21-11 21-16.