WORCESTER badminton ace Simon Archer is plotting a raid north of the border this weekend to boost his Athens Olympic hopes.
The Sydney mixed doubles bronze medallist, fresh from a successful trip to Iceland, is confident of further success at the Bank of Scotland International Championships in Glasgow.
Archer and new partner Donna Kellogg built on their recent success in Slovenia with victory against Denmark pair Jesper Larsen and Mie Nielsen 15-13, 15-4 in the final in Reykjavik.
The result was a further boost for their Olympic qualifying ambitions and having already beaten their chief rivals who will be present at the Scottish event Archer is optimistic of claiming another trophy.
"Our main rivals will be a Russian pair that we beat in Slovenia and a French pair, formerly from Bulgaria, who will be probably be top ranked but we've beaten them too," he said.
"Iceland was not the biggest of tournaments but a win is a win," added Archer.
"We played a couple of decent players on the way to the final and victory was good for our confidence.
"We have to make sure we win in these events or at least reach the final because anything less is no good for our world ranking."
Archer and Kellogg need to boost their points' tally to secure automatic qualification for next year's Athens Olympics but it has not been straightforward.
"We've had some tough draws in the big Grand Prix events and because we were a new partnership and unseeded were up against the top seeds early on.
"But we're playing well and I would rate us in world terms in the top 10 or 12.
"We're not beating the top three or four pairs but we're taking them all to three sets.
"There are another six or seven Grand Prix events plus three or four other events and if we can win four or five of those that should help us to qualify for Athens.
"As long as we keep playing we shouldn't have a problem."
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