ALL ENGLAND 2016 QF – Adcocks triumph at home

Chris and Gabrielle Adcock found that the only feeling better than winning a match at your home tournament is beating the world class pair who has won it three times.

By Naomi Indartiningrum, Badzine Correspondent live in Birmingham.  Photos: Badmintonphoto (live)

It was Chris and Gabrielle Adcock (pictured) who felt the lion’s share of the euphoria on Day 4 of the 2016 All England. In Friday’s quarter-final, they won against world #2 Indonesians Tontowi Ahmad / Liliyana Natsir (pictured below), 21-18 21-16.

Since the beginning of the match, the married couple took control. Meanwhile, their three-time All England champion opponents couldn’t do much and just followed the British pair’s strategy. During the second game, the tension was higher and become more tight for both of them. Natsir/Ahmad equalized the score late in the game but the Adcocks keep attacking them and won the match.

“We’re really happy, they’re a world class pair and we’ve had some real battles with them in the past,” said Chris Adcock after the match.  “We didn’t expect to come out with a win in straight games the way we did but we’re just so happy to be here in the semi-finals.”

Meanwhile, Natsir and Ahmad admit that today is not their best performance: “At the beginning of the game, in the front-side, I had a good feeling. But when the game going, when we tried to attack and we got pressure and quite often put our shots long of the back line,” said Natsir.  “We couldn’t control the game. On the other side, our opponents took control of the game and made us play their way.

“From the beginning we were depressed, especially on the back court. When they attacked our back court area, we felt pressured and couldn’t get out of that. There were no communication problems today, we were fine. Only when we got down, we could not get out from under that pressure. We were too slow to change the strategy,” added the 2008 Olympic silver medallist.

In the semi-final tomorrow, the home representatives will be facing another European pair, Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen / Christinna Pedersen (pictured). The Danes made it into the semi-finals after sending home the newbie pair from China, Wang Yilyu / Tang Jinhua, 25-23, 21-17.

Click here for complete quarter-final results