GIFFNOCK badminton star Ciar Pringle hopes to leave his injuries in the past after representing Scotland at the European Mixed Team Championships in February.

The 21-year-old was in Vantaa, Finland, for the finals after helping his country to qualification at the end of last year. 

The electrical power engineering student went through a hip operation in late 2019, before the arrival of Covid just a few months later cancelled a number of events as he looked to get back on court following his injury.

Pringle lost out to the Finnish Kalle Koljonen in Vantaa as Scotland fell out of the competition in the group stage, but he now has his eyes on the future and admits he can feel himself improving.

Speaking to Barrhead Sport, he said: “Looking back at it now, I did put in a good performance and I’m quite happy with how I played, although at the time I was a little disappointed. 

“It’s only my third or fourth tournament back, so it’s still quite new to me and I’m quite pleased with how I played and where I’m at. 

“I was injured for a lot of the 2019 season and had surgery and was on the road to recovery just when Covid hit so I was setback even more. 

“I wasn’t quite at 100 per cent; I’m still building it up a little bit and getting used to the intensity of tournaments. 

“It’s a long road back and I’ve got to keep working. I’ve just to keep working away and building up my strength on my right side. 

“I’m hoping for the next team competition I’ll be selected again and until then I’ll just keep working hard and I do believe I’m starting to improve a lot more. Any representation at all is amazing, I just want to play my sport and represent my country.” 

Between being a student at Glasgow Caledonian University and daily training, Pringle admits he used to struggle finding time for coursework and badminton but has got better in recent months.

The Giffnock man also has an eye on returning to competitive action later this year.

He added: “I used to be constantly out the house from my training sessions first thing in the morning and then out all day and it was hard to manage university work then.

“Training times are a little bit more restricted now just because of the situation so I’m actually doing a lot better balancing out my studies and training.

“There’s a tournament at the end of May but you don’t know for sure with the current circumstances.”