Adcock and Bankier win Battle of Britain as Team GB selection intensifies

Posted: Thursday 15th March 2012 | 22:18

CHRIS Adcock and Imogen Bankier saved three match points as they pulled off a win that edged them closer to Olympic mixed doubles badminton selection at the Swiss Open.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN: Two from four will get the Team GB nod but will it be Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock or Jenny Wallwork and Nathan Robertson

Adcock and Bankier are locked in a tense battle for the one available Team GB place with arch-rivals Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork.

Whoever is placed higher in the rankings published on May 3rd will get the nod, meaning every tournament is vital in the hunt for points.

So for Adcock and Bankier, currently ranked 14th, to beat Robertson and Wallwork, the world number 17 pair, is a major boost.

"We were very nervous and there were a lot of emotions flying around. But I think we've made a pretty big statement with this win," said Adcock, after the 19-21 21-11 25-23 victory that was secured in 68 minutes.

"We knew how important it was for them to win as much as it was for us. It's never nice when people are eating into your cushion of points. But now we will never stop until we have made it.

"Every tournament is important from now until the end of the qualifying period but at least we have made it to another quarter-final."

Another win in the quarter-finals, where they will face either Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand or Japan's Kenichi Hayakawa and Misaki Matsutomo, will be another points boost but Bankier is keeping her feet on the ground.

"It was one of the hardest matches we have played and was really quite stressful. It was very tense on court and I think we were all quite nervy at the end," she said.

"After this win we don't intend to be complacent. They have been in good form so we want to make the most of another quarter-final appearance. But it's quite hard to lift yourself after a big effort like this.

"We had a similar situation in Korea when we defeated the world champions for the first time then lost in the next round.

"But we learned from that. At the All England last week we beat them again and then followed it up with two more wins."