British pair claim Badminton's big prize
14 March 2005 - This article is from the bid archive
British duo Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson have added the All England mixed doubles title to their Olympic silver medal at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
The pair defeated Denmark's Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl in front of a capacity crowd to become the first Brits to win at Badminton's version of Wimbledon since 1999.
The victory firmly establishes Emms and Robertson as the world's number one pairing and will help give the sport a major boost in Britain.
Robertson said: "This is the biggest we can ever win outside the World Championships and hopefully it will help England develop the sport.
"I would like every person who has come here to copy us and take up Badminton. It would make the sport here so much stronger.
And the pair revealed plans to go one better than the silver medal won in Athens at the 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Beijing.
"Our next goal is the World Championships," added Robertson. "And there's still an Olympic gold medal to be won in three years."
Emms said that winning on home soil made the victory even sweeter.
"This tournament is something that's in every English player's heart," she said. "Everyone wants to win it.
"I've been coming to watch it since I was a girl. To see the great names of the previous winners, and to think your name is joining them, is just fantastic."
A sell-out crowd of nearly 5,000 at the National Indoor Arena created an electric atmosphere for the finals of the tournament.
In the men's singles world number one Lin Dan suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of his Chinese compatriot Chen Hong.
Number three seed Xi Xingfang beat pre-tournament favourite Zhang Ning in the women's singles.
And both the men's and women's doubles titles were also won by Chinese competitors.
14 March 2005
The victory firmly establishes Emms and Robertson as the world's number one pairing and will help give the sport a major boost in Britain.
Robertson said: "This is the biggest we can ever win outside the World Championships and hopefully it will help England develop the sport.
"I would like every person who has come here to copy us and take up Badminton. It would make the sport here so much stronger.
And the pair revealed plans to go one better than the silver medal won in Athens at the 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Beijing.
"Our next goal is the World Championships," added Robertson. "And there's still an Olympic gold medal to be won in three years."
Emms said that winning on home soil made the victory even sweeter.
"This tournament is something that's in every English player's heart," she said. "Everyone wants to win it.
"I've been coming to watch it since I was a girl. To see the great names of the previous winners, and to think your name is joining them, is just fantastic."
A sell-out crowd of nearly 5,000 at the National Indoor Arena created an electric atmosphere for the finals of the tournament.
In the men's singles world number one Lin Dan suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of his Chinese compatriot Chen Hong.
Number three seed Xi Xingfang beat pre-tournament favourite Zhang Ning in the women's singles.
And both the men's and women's doubles titles were also won by Chinese competitors.
14 March 2005
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