Gabby Adcock insists she and husband Chris have momentum on their side after a hard-fought victory over Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in their second mixed doubles group match at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The pair, ranked seventh in the world, lost to Chinese duo Ma Jin and Xu Chen in their first group match yesterday – leaving them with a tough task to reach the knock-out rounds.
But they hit back in style to win another three-game classic 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 against the Danish pairing, who won bronze at London 2012, to keep their hopes alive.
They now face a make-or-break match against Poland’s Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba, with the winners likely to reach the next round.
“It has been really hard because we don’t normally play tournaments with this format [group stage then knockouts], if you lose it is normally straight knockout,” said Gabby Adcock.
“So to pick yourself up having been so close yesterday was really difficult. I think I sulked for about 20 minutes but Chris and the coach said ‘come on, look to the next game’.
“We have got Olympic silver and bronze medallists [Denmark] in our box, so we knew that everyone game was going to be horrible and a really tough battle but we were so up for the challenge and I think we proved that.
“We are just feeling confident now to be in it with all these pairs hopefully we can advance now.”
The match was delayed by over an hour but that did not hinder the Adcocks, who made a perfect start and won a tight opening game 21-19.
But, like in their first match against China, the second game slipped away despite some incredible resilience as Denmark edged it 24-22.
However, the Adcocks took the third game by the scruff of the neck and surged into a lead, which they maintained and converted into victory despite a late wobble.
“It was a very, very good win. We had a tough battle with them at the All England Open a few months back and it is fantastic to beat the seeded pair in our group,” said Chris.
“We are really happy with that performance.”
