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Emms and Robertson upset China seeds

12/08/2008

Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson are through to the badminton mixed doubles quarter-finals after beating second seeds Gao Ling and Zheng Bo in Beijing.

The Athens silver medallists won through 21-16 16-21 21-19 in their first round clash.

Gao and her former partner beat the Team GB pair to Olympic gold four years ago, but Emms played down talk of revenge.

"This is the Olympic Games and we just wanted to win for our country," she said.

"We came out really fast in the first game and I think we took them by surprise."

The British team were 12-6 down in the deciding game but seven straight points saw them through to Thursday's last eight tie against Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae of South Korea.

Robertson added: "This could be our last tournament and I just didn't want it to end.

"To come back against the Chinese like that is unusual. It's normally so difficult against the Chinese to get a run of points like that.

"We love playing, we love winning, we hate losing. When you get the emotions of the Olympic Games going on, it's something special and you really can't describe it."

There was no such luck however for the other British mixed doubles pair of Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg, who lost 21-15 21-8 to China's He Hanbin and Yu Yang.