Clevedon's Chris Coles is adamant there will be more than just medals up for grabs at the English National Badminton Championships as he bids to become a permanent fixture on the national team.

The 19-year-old will link up with regular men’s doubles partner Matthew Nottingham in Bolton this weekend having reached the semi-finals together 12 months ago.

On that occasion they lost in straight sets to number two seeds Chris Adcock and Andy Ellis – a performance Coles admits he is more than happy to repeat this year.

That’s because he believes doing so will boost his chances of being asked to train full-time with England’s elite at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.

“The nationals are such a big event that everyone will be there and that means if we can put on a good show then the coaches will have to see what we are doing,” said Coles.

“And that has to be good for Matthew and I because I ultimately want to try and be a part of the national squad training full-time at Milton Keynes.

“At the moment I am training full-time in Bath, and I am funded, but it would be nice to be part of that squad full-time and that is what I am aiming for.

“If we can put in a good performance at the nationals that could help and if we can push some of the older guys close that would be great.”

Coles and Nottingham’s vanquishers last year, Adcock and Ellis, went on to lose the final to Olympic mixed doubles silver medallist Nathan Robertson and his partner Chris Langridge.

And, while maintaining a loss in the semi-finals again wouldn’t be disastrous, Coles admits they should be aiming to at least win a set if they get there this time around.

“It would be great to go to the nationals and get into the semi-finals again as we did last year,” he added.

“We lost to Andy and Chris on that occasion and if we could get that far again and give them a good game and maybe even win a set that would be fantastic for Matthew and I.”

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