Susan Hughes ( Glasgow), who was today confirmed as No 2 seed for next week's Bank of Scotland International Badminton Championships, has landed the perfect draw as she bids to win the women's singles title for the first time at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena in Glasgow.

Hughes, who has never been beyond the semi-finals of her hometown Championships, is determined to make a big impact this year after losing in the opening round of the Bank of Scotland Centenary International Championships last November.

And she received a dream start with a first-round bye followed by a second-round match with Canada's Daphnee Laliberte. But more importantly, she is in the opposite half of the draw to last year's runner-up and top seed Elizabeth Cann and 2005 and 2006 champion and third seed Ella (Karachkova) Diehl.

If the draw unravels according to seeding, Commonwealth bronze medallist Hughes, who beat Cann in that third-place play-off to win her medal, will face Portugal's eighth seed Filipa Lamy in the quarter-finals and England's fourth seed Jill Pittard or Danish fifth seed Nanna Brosolat Jensen in the semi-finals, which are on Saturday, November 22.

Hughes, the  World No 31 in today's (Thurs) new rankings on which the seedings are based, was a quarter-finalist in 2006 and a semi-finalist in 2005.

She said: "I lost in the first round last year - I was up against the Chinese player Li Wenyan. But I'm in good form and I had one of the best wins of my career at the French Open recently when I beat Wong Mew Chew in straight games. So I am hoping to do well this time and I have the right draw."

The 26-year-old from Glasgow is preparing for the Championships by playing in this weekend's Norwegian International where she is also seeded second.

More than 40 Scots will be among a total of almost 250 players from 31 nations who will contest the 101st Championships, which once again means the No 1 event on the Badminton Europe Circuit will run for five days with qualifying starting at 12 noon next Wednesday (19 November).

And Scotland have four women and six men through to the main draw of the singles events.

Hughes isn't the only Scot seeded in the Championships. In the mixed doubles Watson Briggs (Renfrew) and Jillie Cooper ( Edinburgh), who are bidding to draw on inspiration from Robert Blair and Imogen Bankier's triumph last year in the Bank of Scotland Centenary International, are third seeds after moving up in the world to No 43. They will face qualifiers in the first round.

Briggs and Cooper are in the same half as second seeds Wouter Claes and Nathalie Descamps, the experienced Belgian pair who face Scotland's Andrew Bowman (Bellshill) and Sweden's Emelie Lennartsson in the opening round.

The top seeds are 2000 winner David Lindley and new partner Suzanne Rayappan.

Bowman missed out on a seeding in the mixed but is fifth seed with Welshman Martyn Lewis in the men's doubles. The Belgian International champions face Germans Tim Dettmann and Patrick Neubacher in a tricky first round.

Bank of Scotland National Under 19 champions Martin Campbell ( Edinburgh) and Angus Gilmour (Troon) have a tough first-round test against Lindley, who won the men's doubles title last year with Blair, and new partner Chris Langridge. Campbell is also in the qualifying of the singles on Wednesday and the new Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medal winner has high hopes of making the main draw.

In the women's doubles the luck of the draw deserted Glasgow sisters Linda and Gillian Sloan who must face team-mate Cooper and England's Mariana Agathangelou in the first round.

But it was even worse for Scotland's young prospect Kieran Merrilees ( Glasgow), who was drawn to face top seed and 2005 champion Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland in the first round of the men's singles. Craig Goddard also tackles a Pole in Michal Rogalski while Gordon Thomson must take on seventh seed Stephan Wojcikiewicz of Canada.

The Championships will once again run in tandem with the Bank of Scotland Play Badminton Carnivals with more than 3,000 schoolchildren coming to the Kelvin Hall in Championship week to improve their game or to try badminton for the first time under the expert tuition of BADMINTONscotland's coaching and development staff.

BADMINTONscotland Chief Executive Anne Smillie said: "It's great to have so many Scotland players in the singles draws in particular and the Championships gives badminton fans a fantastic opportunity to see some of our upcoming young players in action as well.

"The Bank of Scotland International Championships will give some of the young players like Martin Campbell a real taste for the cut and thrust of top-class competition and I hope as many people as possible come along to support and encourage them."

Karen Tighe, Deputy Head of Sponsorship for Bank of Scotland, said "It is very encouraging to see such a high number of entries for the Championships and the standard of players involved should make for some extremely competitive and entertaining matches.  I would like to wish all the competitors the best of luck for what is sure to be an exciting and enthralling event.”

The full draw can be viewed here.

Play starts with qualifying next Wednesday (12 noon) with play daily thereafter from 10am. The finals will be on Sunday, November 23 (from 1pm).

Tickets are still on sale: contact BADMINTONscotland on 0141 445 1218 or pay on the door at the Kelvin Hall once the Championships has begun.

To follow Norwegian International results check out www.tournamentsoftware.com