Typically, Asian players are well represented at the pointy end of the tournament, but the British flag was raised high over the Riocentro as rank outsiders Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis stormed into the men’s doubles semi-finals.
Advertisement
Langridge and his partner Marcus Ellis were simply outclassed by the Chinese fourth seeds Zhang Nan and Fu Haifeng having found no lasting way of dealing with the incredible shelling they received from the latter.
They eventually won it 21-14, but the British pair hit back in an event second game before Ellis found the net on match point – giving China victory.
They will next face Hong Wei Hong and Chai Biao of China tomorrow in an effort to win bronze, but Langridge highlighted the pelting from Fu in his argument that badminton deserves more public attention.
Langridge said: ‘We are frustrated.
“It is fantastic – we are one of these pairs that are quite up and down – but this tournament we have shown our ability”.
“This is massive for badminton”, added the 31-year-old. People think the fastest sport in the world is F1 but it’s badminton.
The duo were aiming to confirm Britain’s first medal in the sport for 12 years, after Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson won silver in the mixed doubles in Athens. I really want people to just start playing. They always bring out the stat about Formula 1 being the fastest sport. “We are so unsafe when we play well”.
‘Do we get jibes? It’s like a rocket coming at you.
Advertisement
“Until you watch it, you can’t appreciate it”. But it is a serious sport. I know it’s a dream in essence but I just want more people to see it. “We will give everything we can”. “We do get looked after well and we are thankful for that but it’s hard”.
