WORLDS 2011 Day 3 – Locals keep their hopes high

Great Britain will still have something to cheer for with an incredible win from Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier over Thailand’s mighty pair of Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravitchitchaikul 24-22, 21-19, making it to the third round of the Yonex BWF World championships.

By Tarek Hafi.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

Great Britain had its share of joy on Wednesday, in a half-filled Wembley Arena! The riots outside in the city had the players worried for a little while but the area of the World Championships did not see any street fighting and it may have prevented some people from leaving their homes to come and watch some badminton, but those who came early were happy to see that the home shuttlers did their job.

After the early exit of their main mixed doubles pair Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier (photo) were shouldering the responsibility as the last mixed pair able to win a medal for Great Britain, but they knew they stood a chance against the 8^th seeds Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. Throughout the match, always very close to their opponents, the British pair showed tremendous mental strength to overcome three game points in the very first game, to finally grab the opener 24-22. In the second, the Thai experienced an identical path as they kept staying in the lead, but were always caught by the very fierce Adcock and Bankier.

The Thais fought hard but had to kneel down at 19-19 in the second game and give away the match and the ticket to the third round went to the British pair.

“We have a really good time together practising and playing on court, and there is no better place to win against pairs like that than our home World Champs. It’s not a surprise really as I think we can beat pairs like this. Now, we’ve beaten the Japanese pair we play next at the All England but we won’t take anything for granted,” said a delighted Adcock.

The English-Scottish pair will meet Japan’s Ikeda/Shiota in the next round.  Another pair in the mixed was upset as Indonesia’s Kurniawan/Bernadet were ousted by Taipei’s Fang and Wang, 21-19 in the decider.

All England runners-up and fourth seeds Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa battled their hearts out to make it to the third round of the women’s doubles event. Their opponents, the mighty Malaysian Wong pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui, were in need of crucial points and high level matches after several injuries left them on the bench. An hour and twenty-eight minutes were needed to end the nightmare, which went to the Japanese pair by socres of 21-16, 24-22, 22-20.  However 2^nd seeds Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin were not as lucky as they bowed to India’s Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (photo). The Commonwealth Games gold medallists were tactically too strong and concluded the match on a high note, upsetting their higher-ranked opponents 21-18, 21-18.

In the men’s doubles event, one of the highlights of the day was the win of Malaysia’s Koo and Tan (photo) over a new pair from China – Liu/Xiu. The 4^th-seeded Malaysians gave a great show with riffle smashes and dives from Koo to finally end their quest on a winning note 21-6, 20-22, 21-15. Kindervater and Schottler became the only seeds to fall so far in the event, losing to Taipei’s Lin and Chen in three games.

Click here for complete results