����ý

British Gymnastics performance director James Thomas praised community coaches and clubs for helping elite athletes during the coronavirus pandemic as they named a 10-strong squad for the 2021 European Championships.

The Championships take place in Basel, Switzerland between 21-25 April.

"Community coaches and clubs have gone above and beyond," said Thomas.

Thomas also said the event in "no way precurses the Olympic selection process" which continues into May.

Max Whitlock will lead the men's team as he looks for a fifth European title, and he is joined by 2019 parallel bars world champion Joe Fraser and two-time individual European medallist Courtney Tulloch.

Giarnni Regini-Moran, Joshua Nathan and Jake Jarman complete the men's line-up.

The women's team consists of 2019 European beam champion Alice Kinsella, Amelie Morgan and twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova, who will compete at their first major senior championships.

Athletes can qualify for the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, due to take place 23 July-8 August, by finishing in the top two in the all-around competition. However, any gymnast that competed in the 2019 World Championships event is not eligible to qualify for a place this way.

Thomas added: "To be back announcing teams for major championships feels like a huge landmark for the sport which has been affected so starkly at all levels by the Covid outbreak.

"This European Championships is unique and the selections take into account a wide range of factors specific to this event, not least the opportunity to qualify extra Team GB places via the all-around competition with some new faces drafted in who we are really excited to see compete."