Robertson & Clark knocked out of All England (pic)

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Robertson and Clark fell to the seventh seeds

England’s top duo, Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark, went out in round two of the men’s doubles at the All England Open Championships in Birmingham.

The veteran pair lost 21-14 21-11 to seventh seeds Zhendong Guo and Chen Xu of China. Robertson and Clark fell to the seventh seeds

Clark and Heather Olver later became the first Brits into the quarter-finals with victory in the mixed doubles.

But England’s interest in the men’s singles ended with defeats for both Andrew Smith and Rajiv Ouseph.

Smith pushed fourth seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia before going out 21-18 21-14, while Ouseph, the British number one, lost 23-21 21-8 to third seed Chen Jin China.

Jenny Wallwork and Gabby White were beaten 21-23 21-9 21-8 by sixth seeds Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna of Japan in the women’s doubles.

Clark, 32, and 23-year-old Olver, playing only their second international tournament together, beat Lee Sheng Mu and Chien Yu Chin of Taipei 21-18 22-20.

"To get to the quarter-finals of the All England, our home championships, is an amazing feeling," said Clark, whose previous partner Donna Kellogg retired at the end of last year.

"Heather is still young and we haven’t been playing together long but already we are playing great badminton."

The day was overshadowed by the sudden death of Badminton England chairman Mike Sertin at the age of 66.

Sertin had been in Birmingham for the event, which he had been instrumental in organising, and his family requested that the championships continue as planned.

Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said: "We want the rest of this week to be a fitting memory to Mike but right now our thoughts are with his wife, Catherine, and his son, James."

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