Tianer Yu and Ella Pashley will make their major competition debuts after being called into the Three Leopards squad for the European Team Qualification Event later this month.

The teenage pair (pictured above) will join Tin-Tin Ho and Jasmin Wong in the England women’s squad for the competition in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 21-25 January. Head Coach John Murphy will travel with the squad.

Yu, 17, and Pashley, 16, have both represented England at the European Youth Championships, while Yu has also competed at the Home Nationals International.

A total of 17 countries are competing in the women’s tournament, with six places available at the European Championships final tournament in Croatia in October.

Head of Performance Development Gavin Evans said: “The big goal is to qualify and we’re going there to do that. The team has every chance of qualifying and we wish them good luck.

“Big congratulations to Ella and Tia for making their senior debuts. As well as the goal of qualifying, their selection is about looking to the future and building an exciting senior team that will be successful on a larger stage.”

The draw for the initial group stage will be on 19 January and a second group stage will follow to decide the qualifiers.

The other countries in the draw are: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia and Switzerland.

England men bypass the qualifying tournaments and go straight through to October’s finals.