Five Buckinghamshire based athletes have been selected to represent Team GB at this summer’s European Games.

Ed McKeever, Louisa Sawers, Ryan Bartlett, Amber Hill and Abbey Ling have been named in the 153 strong squad to travel to the competition, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

High Wycombe resident Ling and Hill, who trains at the E.J. Churchill Shooting Ground in Lane End, have both been selected as part of the shooting team.

Bartlett, who hails from Chalfont St Giles, is a two-time European champion and the 17-year-old will compete in acrobatic gymnastics.

Sawers also has a proven pedigree on the big stage and the canoe sprinter will be looking to replicate her first place finish in the K1 5000m at last year’s World Championships.

The only Olympic champion among the group is Wooburn Green based McKeever, who also competes in the canoe sprint and won his gold medal at London 2012 in the K1 200m.

The 34-year-old said: “I am proud to have been selected as part of Team GB again, this time at the European Games. This is a key competition for us just eight weeks out from the World Championships, which is a qualification event for Rio.

“Most of the world’s top canoe sprint athletes come from Europe, so I am really looking forward to some fast racing and a chance to see how preparations are going.”

The games, which comprise of 253 events taking place over 17 days, begin on June 12.