Confident Chris Adcock has eyes on All England Open prize

The Adcocks are currently seventh in the world and produced a dominant display to beat Korea’s Kim Gi Jung and Shin Seung Chan 21-12, 21-16 in their last 16 match on Thursday afternoon at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.

The English couple now face a quarter-final with either Indonesian pair Edi Subaktiar and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja or their fellow countrymen and reigning champions Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir, who face each other on Thursday night.

Adcock said: “We are 100 per cent capable of winning it and we have shown that with the success that we have had.

“We won the last Super Series event in Dubai so while it is not going to be easy to win the YONEX All England because there are some great pairings here, we know we have the calibre and the potential to win the competition and we have to keep playing well and enjoy ourselves out there.”

He added: “We definitely feel confident that we can win the competition but we cannot look past the next game because (Ahmad and Natsir) are the world’s number two or three pairing.

“Even though we beat them last time, it was really close and we have had some tough battles with them. We will literally take it one game at a time.

“We will get home, have a day to prepare for it and hopefully put out another good performance tomorrow.”

The Adcocks began their campaign on Wednesday with a 24-22, 21-12 win against world number 18’s Ronald Alexander and Melati Oktaviani and are one of the main attractions at what is one of the world’s best and most prestigious badminton competitions.

Their victory over Kim Gi Jung and Shin Seung Chan was one of real intent and Adcock is delighted to have only needed four sets to reach the last eight.

He said: “It was a good performance following on from one yesterday. None of these games at the YONEX All England are easy because they are all strong players.

“We have come out with a two-set win having not been pushed too far, which is important if you want to progress late in the tournament.

“We are really happy with our performances so far and hopefully we can carry it forward to tomorrow.”

- You can watch the world’s best players at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena from 8-13 March. For tickets visit allenglandbadminton.com