Huddersfield’s Marcus Ellis admitted he and his doubles partner Chris Langridge were left breathing a huge sigh of relief after their superb performances at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships helped them close in on a place at the Rio Olympics.

There is still work to be done for the English pair if they are to book their spot on the plane to Brazil this summer, but they bagged vital points in the Race for Rio as they reached the quarter-finals of the YONEX All England at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.

“We don’t want to say we are there but it is starting to look very good for us and we can start to breathe a big sigh of relief,” said Ellis, from Bolster Moor.

“Things can still happen and there are quite a few tournaments left in the calendar but looking at the points we will get from this tournament and our ranking, it is looking very good for us.

“Going to the Olympics is the career goal and I think for me it would be a massive thing ticked off for my career and I’m sure it would be for Chris as well because it is the pinnacle of your career.

“Just qualifying is such a tough task in itself and hopefully we will have a few months in the summer to prepare and hopefully we can perform.”

The 26-year-old and Langridge started their YONEX campaign on Wednesday with a first victory over Chinese Taipei duo Chen Hung Ling and Chi-Lin Wang before beating world No6 pairing Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang 14-21, 21-15, 21-16 the following day.

Ellis and Langridge then faced an even tougher task on Friday as they took on the world’s best in the form of Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong.

It looked as though the upset could be on as Ellis and Langridge led for the majority of the first game, including being 16-13 ahead at one point, before the Koreans showed their class to secure a 21-17, 21-11 victory.

Ellis, who attended Colne Valley High School, said: “In patches we played well and even had the better of them at certain points in the first set so that is a positive that we can take from the game.

“As a whole, we have performed well in the tournament, we had two good wins and we have a lot to learn from this.

“In every aspect of the game we showed that we can compete with them. The difference was the physicality they came into the game with because it was so slow out there; the rallies were going on for so long and it was nearly an hour for two sets which is a really long time in men’s doubles.

“I think physicality may be an area where we have to improve because we know that in all other areas of the game we can compete so that is probably the biggest thing we can take from it.”

You can watch the world’s best players at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena from 8-13 March. For tickets visit allenglandbadminton.com

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