English badminton couple takes winners’ podium

Chris Adcock (26) and Gabrielle Adcock (25) are a husband and wife, who won the title in the mixed double competition of the BWF World Super Series Finals, this year’s final event that determines "the king of kings" in badminton. World No. 7 couple defeated 2-0 the Koh Sung-hyun – Kim Ha-na team of Korea, who ranks sixth in the world, at the finals in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. It is the first time that a team from England, the origin of badminton, secured the title at the championship with prize money of 84,000 US dollars to the winner. After securing their win, Gabrielle was seen applauding in her husband’s arms.

Chris and Gabrielle met at a training center for the English national team in 2006, when they were in their mid-teens, and married in 2013, before reaching the zenith in their career. The couple is dreaming about winning the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

There are many shuttlecock couples in badminton. Alan Budikusuma and Susy Susanti of Indonesia who won the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang of China who acquired the gold and silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics are both couples. In Korea, couples include Kim Dong-moon and Na Kyung-min; Kim Joong-soo, director at the Korea Badminton Association, and Chung Myung-hee, coach for the Hwasun County Office team; and Sung Han-kook, former coach for the Daekyo team, and Kim Yeon-ja, professor of Korea National Sports University. In badminton, there are many international championships, and athletes often spend more than half of their time overseas every year, and participate in overseas training camps together, and hence easily become acquainted. However, most get married after retirement. It is quite unusual that a couple plays as a mixed double team like the Adcocks.

“Elite athletes have to be quite selfish because everything they do ultimately has an impact on their performance," British sports psychologist Rebecca Symes said. "They will spend lots of time away from home, be strict with their diet and won`t have a lot of free time. I think they have a great chance though because they seem to have a great understanding and a shared goal.”

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