Chris and Gabby Adcock, the world No 6 mixed doubles pair, hope to capitalise on a “dream” year with success at this week’s BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals and a share of the $1 million prize purse.
The husband-and-wife combination, who won Commonwealth gold this summer, will be pitted in the year-end finals against the eight best pairings through 2014 in two groups of four. The prize money will be split over the five events.
After failing to progress from the group stages at last year’s finals, England’s only entrants in Dubai are adamant that they can go one better at the state-of-the-art Hamdan Sports Complex after finishing their second full year together as a partnership.
“It will be an interesting week,” said Chris. “The mixed doubles hasn’t been completely dominated this year.
“There has never been a major tournament there before and it will be up to the locals to decide who they want to get behind during the week. It’s exciting times.”
The Adcocks fulfilled a lifelong ambition in Glasgow this summer when they won mixed doubles gold, while their involvement at the back end of major tournaments has given the pair belief that they can be a consistent threat against the top partnerships in mixed doubles.
“It has been a really tough year, but in a great way,” said Chris. “The Commonwealth Games were a dream come true for us.
“It is one of those events you grow up watching and it’s one we have always wanted to win. It was a special two weeks.
“More recently, reaching the French Open final and the Hong Kong Open semi-final was a good run for us. But winning the Commonwealth gold will be tough to top.”
The Adcocks have been drawn in a group with China’s world and Olympic champions, Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei. But the English duo have had success against the world No 1’s and believe the mixed doubles event is wide open.
“The world number one pair have set themselves apart, but there have been times when they have lost,” he added.
“They can be beaten and we have won against them before. It will be a real rollercoaster."
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.