Veteran Nathan Robertson kept his Olympic dream alive as he and Jenny Wallwork reached the second round at the Yonex All England Open Championships.
Robertson and Wallwork came through a tough opener against Thailand's world number 11s Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-18 21-18 at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
With big ranking points available at the Super Series premier event, the win lifts the hopes of the world number 18 pair of overtaking British rivals Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier in the race for London 2012 places.
Robertson, who won silver with Gail Emms at Athens in 2004, is hoping to end his stellar career on a high with a final shot at Olympic glory in the capital this summer.
And after a slump in form and ranking last year, the 34-year-old now hopes he and girlfriend Wallwork are timing their run perfectly.
Their task will not get any easier, however, as they now come up against fifth seeds Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Hsing of Taipei.
Adcock, who along with Bankier is ranked 14th in mixed doubles, also has an outside chance of Olympic qualification in the men's doubles with Andy Ellis.
In that discipline he enjoyed a fine start to competition in Birmingham as he and Ellis produced a storming comeback to beat Indonesia's Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan.
The English pair were heading for defeat after losing the opening game to the world number 10s.
They opened up a 13-6 lead in the second but when they were pegged back to 18-17, their chances were fading. Yet they found an extra gear and went on to win 13-21 21-17 21-13 in fine style.
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