Cumbrian badminton star Lauren Smith says her joy at booking her place at this summer's Olympic Games has been overshadowed by what she has described as a "domineering" and "biased" coaching set-up.

The 29-year-old will represent Team GB in both the women's doubles and mixed doubles in Tokyo.

It will be a second Olympics for the Longtown ace after her appearance at the 2016 Rio Games.

But her call-up has also seen Smith hit out at what she says has been a "lack of support" in recent times, with the Cumbrian saying she has "dreaded" working with certain coaches in the English set-up and said players' "well-being" has been compromised.

She also said she "fears for the future" of top-level badminton in England if the situation is not addressed.

Posting on Instagram, Smith wrote: "I should be putting up a post about how happy I am to have been selected for my second Olympic Games.

"Sadly I feel the need to address the frustration I have felt, especially during my Olympic preparation but also building across the last five years.

"For obvious reasons, related to selection, it has been a bumpy few weeks.

"Despite it being a controversial decision, there has been no support offered to myself or other athletes to deal with this and prevent the negative effect it has had on my Olympic preparation."

Smith said her comments followed a "controversial" men's doubles selection - the higher-ranked Ellis and Chris Langridge not chosen despite winning bronze in Rio, and Ben Lane and Sean Vendy preferred - and a "turbulent few weeks".

She claimed that players' "wellbeing and happiness" is "not valued" and that "players have lost their voice under a domineering coach-centred system" at the national centre in Milton Keynes.

She added in her post: "I absolutely love being able to play badminton for a living and always enjoyed training.

"But the last few weeks I have dreaded having to go in the hall with some of the coaches I no longer believe want the best for me as a player and who I know to be biased."

Smith said the situation has been handled "appallingly" and added: "If things continue as they are I fear for the future of top-level badminton in England."

Badminton England has been approached for comment.

Smith is set to team up with Chloe Birch in the women's singles and Marcus Ellis in the mixed doubles.

The badminton squad for Tokyo was confirmed today and Smith, speaking at the official announcement, said she would never take her Olympic status for granted.

"It was a childhood dream to be an Olympian, and now it's happened twice," she said.

"It's one of those things that will never be less special.

"Representing Team GB, representing your country, is a hugely proud moment, no matter how many times you've done it in the past.

"It's not just about us alone who've got here - our parents, families, coaches when we were younger, people in our clubs who'd spend time playing with you...

"A huge amount of people have put energy into us getting here and we're so grateful and thankful.

"It's been lovely to speak to those people to tell them we're going to the Games and say thank you. Hopefully we can do them proud."

National champions Smith and Birch said it had been a demanding task to get to this point after setting their sights on Olympic qualification.

"It's been quite a long, challenging road, with everything that's happened in the last two years - it's been extended beyond anything we expected it to be," said the Commonwealth Games medallist, who also won European gold with Ellis in 2019.

"But this was our goal when we started playing together and we're absolutely thrilled to have achieved it."

Smith and Olympic medallist Marcus Ellis secured an automatic qualification place in the mixed doubles after finishing in eighth place on the BWF Race to Tokyo rankings.

Carlisle-born Smith, who went to William Howard School in Brampton, is the second Cumbrian in the space of 24 hours to have her Tokyo place confirmed, after Workington's 800m star Oliver Dustin sealed his place in the Team GB squad.