MILTON Keynes badminton star Chris Adcock failed in his bid to become the first English player to appear in two Superseries finals when he and Andy Ellis fell in the men’s doubles semi-finals of the Victor Korea Open in Seoul.
Ellis and Adcock, who won the Yonex Sunrise Open mixed doubles title with wife Gabby in November, were beaten 21-11 21-9 by four-times world champion and London 2012 winner Fu Haifeng and current partner Hong Wei.
The Chinese pair got off to a flying start by opening up a 7-0 lead and, although Adcock and Ellis recovered to within three points at 9-6, Fu and Hong finished the game with a five-point burst from 16-11.
Fu and Hong were just as determined in the second game, moving from 7-5 to 14-5 on the way to a 34-minute win.
Even so, reaching the semi-finals of this opening MetLife BWF World Superseries tournament of 2014 should give Adcock and Ellis a boost in their world ranking of number 13 as they head for Kuala Lumpur for next week’s Premier Superseries event, the Maybank Malaysia Open.
The England squad in Kuala Lumpur is:
Men’s singles: Rajiv Ouseph
Men’s doubles: Chris Adcock & Andy Ellis, Chris Langridge & Peter Mills
Wome’s doubles: Gabby Adcock & Lauren Smith, Heather Olver & Kate Robertshaw
Mixed doubles: Adcock & Adcock, Langridge & Olver.
