End of road for Chris Adcock, Imogen Bankier in 2012 London Olympics – Badminton News
It was sheer disappointment for Great Britain on second day of the badminton event as its much hyped Mixed Doubles team Chris Adcock-Imogen Bankier failed to live up to the expectations and crashed out of London Olympics on July 29, 2012.
They lost to lower ranked German pair Michael Fuchs-Birgit Michels in Group A match which was played at Wembley Arena.
It was must win situation for Adcock-Bankier as they already had lost their opener against the Russian contenders but they could not find their form and lost this crucial encounter with 21-11, 17-21 and 14-21.
The World Number ten duo took a great start and clinched first match point but they failed to continue with the same flow in the ending two sets of the match and surrendered in disgraceful manner.
In the opening game, they aroused hopes of local crowd by putting a lustrous performance which dazzled their rivals.
They got the right momentum by prevailing in several uninterrupted rallies in the beginning and then capitalised this initial advantage to pocket the first half of the game.
They exhibited some clever variations and combined powerful smashes with skilful drop net shots to confound their challengers in the second half.
The British couple maintained a significant difference all the way to game point situation and placed a winning margin of 21-11.
However, the story was entirely different in very next game as the underrated Michael-Birgit came from behind and managed to keep the contest alive.
Though, they had a cautious start but still they did not allow their challengers to establish a comfortable lead until half time.
On the other hand, Adcock-Bankier enjoyed a slight edge in opening rallies but they lost focus in crucial moments of the tussle which cost them a vital match point.
The German duo did not miss this opportunity and utilised all of their brilliance to bag second set with decisive figure of 21-17.
Michael and Birgit showed superb coordination in the decider and locked the honour with a respectable seven-point lead in concluding total.
They silenced the local crowd with their thundering performance and swept the table with final score of 21-14.
After this second consecutive defeat in the mega event, the prime British pair will meet World Number one Zhang Nan-Zhao Yunlei in an inconsequential encounter.
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