Shock win for British duo
Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier sprung a surprise to book their place in the last 16 of the World Championships.
Last Updated: 10/08/11 5:14pm
Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier kept Britain's mixed-doubles hopes at the Yonex BWF World Championships alive with surprise victory at Wembley Arena.
The Anglo-Scottish pair won two tight games to see off eighth seeds Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 24-22 21-19 and book a spot in the last 16 of the tournament.
Their fine performance gave the home crowd something to cheer about after the loss of top hopes Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork in the first round of the same event.
World number eights Robertson and Wallwork are the leading Brits in the race to qualify for the Olympic tournament - to be held at the same venue in 2012 - but Adcock and Bankier, currently 20th, will now score huge ranking points themselves.
"There are some very good British pairs around and it is a shame for the home crowd Nathan and Jenny went out," Leicester-born Adcock said.
Olympics
"But in terms of the Olympics, it is an individual sport. Nathan and Jenny are a good pair but they are our competitors as well.
"I am not saying we are excited they went out but it did spur us on to be the last British hope in the draw. We knew our style could work. We knew we had to play at our best and I think we did."
The pair will now play for a place in the quarter-finals on Thursday, but Adcock first returns to action in the men's doubles alongside Andrew Ellis.
"It's fantastic. We thought we could win and we did a lot of preparation," Bankier added, who completed victory with an overhead smash.
"To pull it off in such a close game was great and we hope we can keep it up for the rest of the tournament."
