Smith to meet former Olympic champion

ENGLAND'S Andrew Smith paid tribute to the vocal home support that inspired him to a first-round victory at the Yonex All England Championships.

SMITH ON SONG: Great Britain's Andrew Smith progresses to round two in Birmingham (Getty Images)

The world number 21 came into the competition with high hopes, having defeat Denmark's Joachim Persson, who is currently sixth in the world rankings.

Smith, 24, was slow out of the blocks against India's Chetan Anand at the NIA in Birmingham, and fell a set down before roaring back to clinch the match 6-21 21-17 21-12.

"Obviously it wasn't a very good start at all," said Smith. "But I managed to get back into it and the crowd helped.

"In the first set I felt quite tired, but I knew I had to speed things up a bit and fortunately I did so and able to progress."

The Hampshire player will face world number seven Taufik Hidayat in the second round.

The Indonesian was Olympic champion in 2004, but Smith insists, with home advantage, he is in without a shout.

"He is not as good as he was back then; he is definitely beatable," he added. "I know he will make mistakes, but he will also make winners."

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Smith is the only surviving British singles player after Jill Pittard, Susan Hughes and Elizabeth Cann all lost their first round matches, Cann losing 9-21 16-21 to China's Lin Wang.

In the men's doubles Robert Blair and Chris Adcock crashed to a 21-19 17-21 20-22 defeat to Danish pair Anders Kristiansen and Simon Mollyhus.

On court at the same time, Blair's mixed doubles partner Imogen Bankier was equally unsuccessful in her women's double match.

Alongside England's Mariana Agathangelou, the Scot lost 17-21 16-21 to Chinese pair Pan Pan and Qing Tian.

JO CARTER in Birmingham