Our No 1 hopes for a Gold medal at the start of the competition were the Mixed Doubles pairing of Jenny Wallwork and Nathan Robertson. The pairing made it all the way to the final and falling at the last hurdle loosing 22-20 , 20-12 against their unseeded Malaysian opponents. Wallwork and Robertson being the No 1 seeds in this event really should have bought home the gold in this event, and winning the silver perhaps highlights the weaknesses in this pairing.
Rajiv Ouseph had the toughest final of all as he was up against the World Number One Lee Chung Wei of Malaysia in the Mens singles competition. Ouseph, number two seed in the event did well to reach the final, only to loose 21-10, 21-8 to Wei.
The England Men's doubles pairing of Robertson and Clark also reached their respective final to face the World No. 1 Malaysian pairing of Koo and Tan. The first game was a tense affair with the Malaysians only taking the lead at 18-17, and going on to close the first game 21-19. The second game, the English pair were easily beaten 21-14 which wrapped up the gold for the Malaysian Duo of Koo and Tan. This was always going to be a hard game for Robertson and Clark, there may have been a different outcome had they had managed to win the first game.
Yesterday in the Bronze medal playoffs the English pairing of Wallwork and White narrowly lost out to the Australian paring of Wilson-Smith and Tang, 21-23, 21-12, 21-16. The Australians who were unseeded provided tough opposition for the England Duo, who were seeded third in this event, perhaps they should have done better ?
Liz Cann also represented England in the Bronze medal playoffs in the ladies Singles against the Scot Susan Eglestaff. Cann gained payback upon Eglestaff for the Scot's victory over Cann in the Team event earlier in the week. Cann won an excellent match over Eglestaff 21-18, 21-16 which can be classed as one of the best in her career. Cann who started the Commonwealths slowly, shone through when it mattered to win the Bronze in an excellent match.
Overall, Team Badminton England lived up to what was expected of them from the start of the competition, with some members exceeding expectations and others perhaps not being able to perform at their best.
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