British badminton stars Chris and Gabby Adcock thrilled the bumper home crowd as they made light work of their opening clash at the All England Open Championships in Birmingham.
Facing opposition from Singapore in their first round mixed doubles tie, the Adcocks – ranked seventh in the world – showed no signs of nerves as they cruised to a 21-9 victory in the opening game.
And while their opponents ramped up the pressure in the second, the Adcocks stood firm to triumph 21-18 to progress to the last 16.
There they will face Chinese duo Xu Chen and Du Yue – the former of whom they suffered defeat to at last summer’s Rio Olympics Games.
But the Adcocks, who reached the semi-final stage at last week’s YONEX German Open, insist there exists no reason why their winning run can’t continue as they go in pursuit of a maiden All England title.
“We’re pleased with how that went, it’s always quite a nervy start at the All England,” said Gabby.
“We want to play well and just get the ball rolling with a good start. I think we did that today.
“Every tournament we go in to, we’re wanting to win it, and that’s no different at the All England.
“It’s even more so because it’s such a special tournament to us. We’re going to take each match as it comes as we always do, like at every other tournament.
“Hopefully we’ll find ourselves in the later stages, but we do have a tough one tomorrow.”
Chris added: “The All England is obviously our home event, but the history and everything behind it is amazing.
“In terms of playing events, it’s the best one so it’s incredibly exciting when you get to this point in the calendar year. It’s obviously better if you do well so hopefully we can have a long week.”
They will be joined in the second round by young pairing Tom Wolfenden and Peter Briggs, who prevailed 21-19 10-21 21-18 over Indian opposition.
However, it was an early exit for Olympic bronze medallists Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis, as they fell to a frustrating defeat at the hands of eighth seeds opposition.
In a match of neck-and-neck action, the Indonesians triumphed 27-25 21-19 to cut short Langridge and Ellis’ stint at the All England.
Earlier in the day, fellow Olympian Rajiv Ouseph was also eliminated by seeded opposition, losing 21-19 18-21 12-21to Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus.
And it was disappointment too for women’s singles player Fontaine Chapman, as she was knocked out in straight games by her opponent from Hong Kong, having battled through qualification rounds on Tuesday.
Sportsbeat 2017