Badminton: Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge have won a shock championship in Italy

Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge stunned top seeds Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler to win the Italian International in Rome.

Marcus is a talented young player while Chris is an experienced Commonwealth medalist. They are a pair we have a lot of faith in the future.

The unseeded English pair romped to their first tournament title win together by beating the world number 19 pair from Germany with a 21-11, 21-19 win in 40 minutes.

Ellis and Langridge only came together as a partnership in September, reaching last month's Macau Open quarter-finals as well as the China Open second round before adding victory in Italy.

The Englishmen were in inspired form, racing to the title without dropping a game in the Italian capital.

At 8-8 in the opener, Ellis and Langridge raced away with the first. The second was far tighter and they found themselves 17-13 down before taking the next four points and holding their nerve to take the title.

"What topped it off was to beat a pair that had recently beaten the world number one and world number three pair," said Langridge – a three-time Commonwealth Games medal winner.

"We are getting a good understanding of each other and really starting to play as a pair which is key.

"We both played really well the whole tournament and the scores showed it.”

Statement

Before overcoming the Germans, they had dismantled Poland's second seeds, Lukasz Moren and Wojciech Szkudlarczyk 21-6 21-19 in the quarter-finals.

Adrian Christy, Badminton England's chief executive, said: "To beat a world top 20 pair, this is a big statement of their intent for a pair who have only just come together as a partnership.

"Marcus is a talented young player while Chris is an experienced Commonwealth medalist. They are a pair we have a lot of faith in the future."

Tickets for the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships on 3-8 March 2015 are now on sale at allenglandbadminton.com/tickets/info