London: The Olympic badminton team that Great Britain is sending to Rio will have 8 shuttlers that include 22-year-old Kirsty Gilmour from Scotland, and the husband and wife mixed doubles pair Chris and Gabby Adcock.
Gilmour who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow two years ago is currently ranked No. 15 in the world.
At the same time, the Adcocks became the 2014 Commonwealth Games champions in Glasgow and also won the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Superseries Finals title last December in Dubai. Chris and Gabby Adcock are currently the World No. 7 mixed doubles pair in the world and will be Britain’s main medal hopes in the Olympics.
World No. 15 Rajiv Ouseph will represent Britain in the men’s singles category, while Chris Langridge/Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith/Heather Olver form the men’s doubles and women’s doubles teams.
“This is the first time since Athens Olympics that we have players qualified in all 5 categories. And the total number of players going to Rio equals our team size in Beijing,” said Jon Austin, Britain’s badminton team manager.
Britain have won 2 medals in badminton event since its inclusion as a full-medal sport in 1992. Simon Archer and Joanne Goode won the mixed doubles bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics followed by mixed doubles silver medals won by Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson won four years later in Athens.
Here is Britain’s badminton roster for 2016 Olympics:
Kirsty Gilmour (Women’s singles)
Chris Adcock/Gabby Adcock (Mixed doubles)
Rajiv Ouseph (Men’s singles)
Marcus Ellis/Chris Langridge (Men’s doubles)
Heather Olver/Lauren Smith (Women’s doubles)
