Badminton: Britain's world silver medallists out before their final group match

Monday 30 July 2012

GLASGOW'S Imogen Bankier and her doubles partner, Chris Adcock, had hopes of securing qualification from the group before a rematch with the world No.1 team tomorrow.

Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock are dejected after defeat. Picture: Getty

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Some had suggested it could even be a dress rehearsal for another meeting in the final.

Instead, the British team will play Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, the pair who beat them in the gold-medal match at the world championships, with only their wounded pride at stake. After defeat by the Russians Alexandr Nikolaenko and Valeria Sorokina on Saturday, Bankier and Adcock had to yesterday beat Germany's Michael Fuchs and Birgit Michels, but lost 21-11, 17-21, 14-21. For the second time, they had won the first set but lost the match.

An emotional Bankier said that she wanted to repay the supporters who cheered the British pair on again yesterday with victory against the Chinese team. "We got a good start again but we're absolutely gutted; really disappointed," she said. "We did everything we could. We worked so hard to get here. We've got one more game and we want to repay the crowd who have supported us with a win."The match against the Chinese is still important for us. We've had great support and we don't want to let the supporters down. It's a rematch of the world final, so if anything can motivate you it's that. Hopefully, we can go home knowing we gave it our all."It's our first Olympic Games. We wanted to do our best. We lost two games which we saw as winnable. We're both very young. We'd love to progress [in our careers]. We've got the game to progress."Bankier denied that the expectation that comes with a home Olympics was why the British duo let slip their leads, pointing to their long, drawn-out qualification battle with Athens 2004 silver medallist Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork as proof they can handle the pressure. However, she admitted that their opponents had reacted better to the in-game situation in both defeats."Our tactics are something we need to look at," added Bankier. "They managed to grind back into it and get a rhythm. Unfortunately, both pairs adapted and we need to address that. At one set all we tried to start again, get the crowd involved so they could pull us through. Unfortunately, we gave them a few cheap ones. We're a pair. We win as a pair, we lose as a pair."Everybody wants to do well. We started well but couldn't kept the momentum. Unfortunately, we couldn't come back. We came into the tournament in the best shape of our lives but [we] faced two difficult opponents. We came here with high hopes. We put the pressure on ourselves. Nothing is more stressful than qualifying."n Bank of Scotland, proud supporter of Team GB and proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Get closer to the Games at bankofscotland.co.uk/London2012

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Badminton: Britain's world silver medallists out before their final group match

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