Chris Adcock believes anything is possible after he and mixed doubles partner Gabby White qualified for the main draw at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
The pair beat Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Valeria Sorokina – conquerors of British duo Lauren Smith and Ben Stawski in the first round of qualifying – in straight sets to book a place against Chinese top-seeds Chen Xu and Jin Ma.
But Adcock, who won world silver with Imogen Bankier in 2011, believes the pressure is off him and fiancé White, and can deliver a shock as part of their development as a new on-court partnership.
“There’s no pressure on us, so you never know,” said Adcock, following the 21-18, 21-17 win while they beat Max Schwenger and Carla Nelte in first-round qualifying.
“We’ve certainly proven that before and hopefully we can take that forward with the home crowd, which is a big help.
“It acts as a third person on court, and we’ve had the advantage of hitting in there and getting the feel of the hall – hopefully we can put on a show.”
White made it a double celebration when she progressed into the main draw of the women’s doubles with partner Smith following a 21-13, 21-13 win over India's Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa.
“I’m really pleased – it’s a new experience for me,” said Smith. “I came into this with the intention of getting into the main draw and I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Marcus Ellis and Paul van Rietvelde advanced to the men's doubles main draw after beating South Korean third qualifying seeds Ji Wook Kang and Sang Joon Lee 19-21, 21-18, 22-20.
But Rajiv Ouseph, the British number one and top men’s singles qualifying seed, failed to make it after losing 21-13, 21-18 to India’s Sourabh Varma in the second round of qualifying.
“I let the lead slip away quite easily,” said Ouseph, who failed to capitalise on a six-point first set advantage.
“The disappointment will only get stronger, because you like to do well at your home tournament, but it wasn’t to be this year.
“My form has been a little bit better, but it’s always going to be tough in qualifying.”
Elsewhere, men’s doubles pair Chris Coles and Matthew Nottingham lost out to Robert Blair and Malaysia’s Bin Shen Tan in three sets before the Scottish-Malaysian duo went on to beat Mattijs Dierickx and Freek Golinski to make the main draw.
Heather Olver crashed out in two events – losing the women’s doubles with Kate Robertshaw to London 2012 Olympian Bankier, who partnered Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva to reach the main draw, and in the mixed alongside Chris Langridge.
Alyssa Lim and Jessica Fletcher also lost at the first hurdle in the women’s doubles, while Sophie Brown and Helena Lewczynska crashed out too.
© Sportsbeat 2013