Badminton star Gabby Adcock sets sights on national record

The championships, which are to be held at the £10 million University of Derby Sports Centre from Friday, February 5 to Sunday, February 7, will kick-start a frenetic period for England’s elite as they aim to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

And Gabby Adcock, fresh from her superb win in December with husband Chris at the World Superseries Finals in Dubai, says that she will aim for Anthony Clark’s record 12 English National Championship titles after winning her eighth last year.

“I want to go for the record of national titles,” said the 25-year-old Adcock, who hails from Leeds. “It could be difficult with the Olympics in mind but I hope to get ten in the bag at some point.”

The Adcocks’ Dubai triumph came in the mixed doubles at the expense of highly-rated South Korean duo, Ko Sung Hyun and Kim Ha Na. It was their second Superseries win and followed their memorable gold-medal success in the Commonwealth games at Glasgow in 2014.

Since 1964, the English Championships have been staged at 18 different venues nationwide -– from Manchester and Hull, to Paignton and Brighton.

The University of Derby venue opened in September 2015 and boasts an eight-badminton court sports hall, a 70-station fitness suite, squash courts and an indoor sprint track.

The centre is also home to Team Derby, the 2015 winners of the inaugural AJ Bell National Badminton League (NBL) season.

After the English Championships, the YONEX All-England Championships -– the first Superseries event of the 2016 badminton season -– will take place in early March at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham.

Olympic qualification finishes in early May, with Team GB currently in line to qualify athletes across all five disciplines.