Jess Pugh takes positives from narrow defeat at All England Open
Telford badminton ace Jess Pugh tasted defeat on day two at the YONEX All England Open but is taking the positives from a week of clear progression.
The 21-year-old Shropshire shuttler wowed the crowds in Birmingham by making it to the second round of badminton’s most prestigious tournament alongside partner Ben Lane, but fell to defeat to experienced English pair Chris and Gabby Adcock.
Pugh and Lane have long been thought of as the successors to the No.1 English pairing and started like a house on fire to win the first game, until the Adcocks turned things round to win 15-21, 21-15, 21-15.
“I’m very disappointed at the moment, of course,” said Pugh. “We played really well and competed well in that game, we’re just gutted not to make it to the quarter-finals here this year.
“There are a lot of positives though. Winning on Wednesday was great for our confidence, we’re playing really well at the moment and we’ve had a good training block recently.
“It’s definitely nice that we’re coming here and using the things we’ve worked on. It’s showing in our game and we’re getting stronger and closer to pairs like these, I’m definitely feeling positive.”
Lane and Pugh made real strides in the first round, comfortably beating Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler 21-13 21-16, with the German pair having beaten the youngsters twice last year.
The two 21-year-olds didn’t make it to the main draw at YONEX All England in 2017 and lost in the first round last year so are progressing well, amid an atmosphere of optimism within mixed doubles owing to the all-English tie and the form of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, who are also competing in the second round.
Lane said: “It’s really positive for English badminton, especially in the mixed doubles.
“There’s some great pairs in England at the moment playing mixed, to have three pairs going through the first round here and we obviously have a pair in the quarter-finals now and that could be two, it’s great.”
The 2019 YONEX All England – Badminton’s greatest show on the sport’s world tour – will wow fans at Arena Birmingham, from March 6-10. For tickets and information: www.allenglandbadminton.com or search All England tickets.
