Tweddle and Smith to spearhead Great Britain at World Championships

WORLD champion Beth Tweddle and Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith will spearhead Great Britain's charge at the World Championships in Rotterdam next month.

LEADING LADY: Beth Tweddle will be looking to defend her world title in Rotterdam next month (Getty Images)

Tweddle, who scooped world gold in the floor exercise in London last year, is also the European champion in both the floor and the asymmetric bars, leads an impressive women's team, looking to improve on their European team silver in April.

She will be joined by British champion Hannah Whelan and Becky Downie, as well as Nicole Hibbert, Danusia Francis and Jennifer Pinches.

Smith meanwhile, leads the men's squad in the absence of world all-around silver medallist Daniel Keatings, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the start of the year.

Joining Smith will be European bronze medallist Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Theo Seager, Sam Hunter and Ruslan Pantelymonov.

The World Championships are scheduled to take place less than two weeks after the Commonwealth Games and British Gymnastics have made no secret of their decision to prioritise the former.

But British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones is confident there will be success on two fronts next month.

"We have two significant events coming up with the World Championships and Commonwealth Games," said Jones.

"And are delighted to be in such a positive position whereby Britain will have a very strong team in Rotterdam, whilst the Home Nations have also been in a position to pick high-quality teams for the Commonwealth Games.

"This is a clear reflection of the strength in depth of the men's and women's programmes British Gymnastics have in place. The results in Rotterdam are very important in the lead up to London 2012 and the remainder of the Olympic qualification process."