Emms, who retired after the Olympics in Beijing last year, is awarded an MBE.

 

She said: "I heard the news three or four weeks ago and I expect the investiture to be within the next six weeks.

"It came as a bit of a shock but it's nice to be appreciated and reflects all the hard work that all athletes have to put in to their sport.

"This award isn't about me, it's about all the coaches and support staff who have been behind my success."
 

Emms is still heavily involved in badminton and typically, in her ambassador role, she was today coaching youngsters and promoting her sport.

In an England career which begin with her debut in 1995, she went on to win national, international, Commonwealth, European and world titles.

 

Only Olympic gold eluded her.

 

Emms played 68 times for England and was part of the team which won a bronze medal at the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow two years ago.

But she is best remembered for her Olympic silver medal with Nathan Robertson in mixed doubles at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and for their Yonex All England title triumph in 2005.
 

In 2006 the pair won the world title in Madrid to make up for the disappointment of the previous year when Robertson was injured in practice on the eve of the World Championships in Anaheim, where they were top seeds and hot favourites.
 

She and Robertson won the European title in 2004 and are also the reigning Commonwealth champions.
 

They were the number one pair in the world during 2005-2006 in a purple patch which brought back-to-back wins at the Yonex All England and Wilson Swiss Open, finalists in Hong Kong and victory in China.

The success continued into 2006 with them retaining their Swiss title and finishing runners-up at both the All England and the Singapore Open before going on to win the world title in an all-English final with their great friends Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg.
 

Emms and Kellog won the European women's doubles title in 2006 and were runners-up in 2008. They were also Denmark Open runners-up in 2005 and 2006.

Emms also won four of her six English National mixed doubles titles with Robertson and four of her six women's doubles titles with Kellogg.
 

Meanwhile, several members of the Paralympic team controversially overlooked after the Beijing Games also feature in the Honours List.

 

In the New Year's honours list, every gold medallist from the Beijing Olympics received recognition but but only 18 of the Paralympic team were honoured.

 

Some of those omissions have now been recitified.

 

Michael Brace, recent chairman of Paralympics GB has seen his OBE upgraded to CBE.

 

Three athletes have also been rewarded. Scotland's James Anderson - who has six Paralympic gold medals to his name - has received an OBE for services to swimming, while Nyree Lewis, another Paralympic swimmer, has picked up an MBE for services to disability sport.

 

Peter Norfolk - dubbed The Quadfather - has been handed an OBE for his services to disability sport - having collected wheelchair tennis gold at the last two Paralympics.

 

Also rewarded is Anthony Yorke, a former manager of the British Paralympic cycling team.