Badminton: Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock oust seeded pair

GLASGOW'S Imogen Bankier teamed up with Chris Adcock to put a smile on the gloomy British faces at the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships at Wembley Arena yesterday.

Home chances of a medal at the World Championships - doubling as the London 2012 test event - were slim even before the competition got underway, but when Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, the only seeded home entrants, crashed out of the mixed doubles on Tuesday night, those hopes were all but extinguished.

But Bankier and Adcock, ranked 20th in the world, reached round two on Tuesday and the Anglo-Scottish pair became the first Brits to eliminate a seed yesterday, beating Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand 24-22, 21-19.

On both occasions the Brits came from behind to win, and barring a huge upset, will be the only home players in the draw today. "We played fantastically. It was a very close first game, but we edged it and that gave us the momentum to go on and win it," said Bankier, 23.

l Tickets for the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships start at only 10. Visit www.badminton2011.co.uk or call 0208 782 5629.