Badminton:

Scotland players will face a ''trial by fire'' before earning their places in Scotland's Commonwealth Games team for Kuala Lumpur in September.

National director of coaching Dan Travers wants to assess how his squad perform in the heat and humidity at the Malaysian Open Championships at the end of next month and will keep the shuttle aces guessing until the last minute as to who will represent their country.

Up to 19 players may be taking part in the Malaysian event with coaches in attendance as the SBU beef up their medals bid.

The championships last until July 5 which is past the official July 1 selection date for the Scottish Games team, but the SBU should be able to notify the council of their core selection, leaving only a few fringe places in doubt.

It will be a nerve-racking time for the players however, and the merciful thing would be for Travers to tip the wink to those who are definitely in, subject, of course, to fitness.

It is inconceivable that players featuring high in the world rankings could be left at home.

That would mean that Anne Gibson, Bruce Flockhart, Kenny and Elinor Middlemiss, Sandra Watt, Russell Hogg, Alastair Gatt and Craig Robertson are all near certainties, though the Travers philosophy is to keep everyone working hard with no-one taking anything for granted.

But one thing is certain: there are still places to be won.