Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier find a tricky draw in Mixed Doubles category at London Olympics
Things are not that easy for Great Britain’s top pair Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier as they have been handed over a tough draw in Mixed Doubles category at London Olympics and their chances are fifty-fifty to live up to the expectations.
England’s Adcock and Scotland’s Bankier, who are currently placed at number 10 in Mixed Doubles world ranking, has been drawn in Group A along with China’s top seeds Zhao Yunlei and Zhang Nan.
The other two couples contesting in Group A are Russia’s World Number 15 Valeria Sorokina-Alexandr Nikolaenko and Germany’s World Number 22 Birgit Michels-Michael Fuchs.
Adcock and Bankier, who lost the final encounter of 2011 World Championships to Chinese opponents Nan and Yunlei at the same Wembley Indoor Arena, are quite confident to put up strong show this time as they have won two matches in their last three head-to-head meetings.
The spirited Adcock and Bankier are among the medal contenders in Mixed Doubles draw as they have attained a certain level of skills to challenge the world and the home crowd at Wembley will also play its sheer role in keeping them passionate on court.
While talking about the prospects of the duo against the top seeded Chinese shuttlers, Adcock said that they are capable of winning against them.
He said, “Obviously they're the top seeds, but we've shown that we've beaten them twice in the last three times, so I definitely believe we can win. I kind of expected getting the number one Chinese pair as we've played them so often this year and it was the thought that it was always going to happen.”
He also added, “We've also got two good European pairs with the German pair and the Russian pair. The key thing is that we if play well on the day, we can win.”
If Adcock and Bankier clear the group stage then they will not meet the top Chinese pair again before the final of the mega event.
Many think that Adcock and Bankier are capable of repeating the same performance they delivered in the World Championships last year.
Tags: