BADMINTON It could be party time in Rio for Chris Coles if he fulfills his outstanding potential and wins an Olympic badminton medal.

That is according to Sport England and SportsAid, who have named the 17-year-old as one of the 16 talented athletes capable of making their mark at the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil.

The '16 for 2016' are all supported by SportsAid, a charity which gives financial assistance to talented youngsters aged 12 to 18, to help them meet the costs of pursuing their sporting dreams.

Coles, who trains at the University of Bath, said: "It has always been my long-term goal to compete in an Olympic Games and to be considered as a potential contender by SportsAid and by Badminton England makes all the hard training worthwhile. I am really very excited about the future."

Nikki Tarrant, elite player supervisor at Badminton England, said: "Chris is currently in the top three doubles and mixed pairs in his age group in Europe, in addition to being a top-five player at singles.

"He has a high level of ability on all disciplines of the game and demonstrates these when he plays – power and physical ability linked to his natural control and on court vision.

"His continued improvement could see him representing England and GB at senior level in the next few years."

Among those who have benefited from SportsAid funding in the past are five-time Olympic rowing champion Sir Steve Redgrave, triple sailing gold medallist Ben Ainslie and Paralympic legend Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Redgrave said: "Sport England's funding means more young people can look forward to the same support from SportsAid that helped me when I was at the start of my career.

"We need to give these youngsters all the help we can to help them progress onto elite programmes and fulfil their potential."

SportsAid has distributed awards worth £115,000 over the past year to some 185 young athletes in the South West who are not yet eligible for the Lottery funding awarded to elite athletes.