Family rule in doubles on remarkable final day

Dubai: The doubles finals at the BWF Dubai Superseries finals delivered some hot action and extraordinary results, perhaps no more than the first-ever wins by a husband and wife team and twin sisters.

Britain’s Chris Adcock and Gabriella, who were married in 2013, may not have picked up a major title this year, but they saved their best for the last to totally dominate Japan’s Sung Huyn and Kim Ha Na for a 21-14, 21-17 victory.

The Adcocks made history when they became the first married couple to win the mixed doubles title at the Commonwealth Games last year and repeated the feat as the first married twosome to capture the Badminton World Federation’s prestigious year-end event, the 13th on a glittering, but exhaustive calendar that began with the All England Open in March and took the players through Asia, Europe and Australia.

“Winning this is an overwhelming feeling, I’m very, very happy,” said Gabrielle. “The trophy and the medal are going to get pride of place on our mantelpiece.

“We really enjoyed every minute of it this year we had so much fun playing on court with the team around us. This is probably the best moment of my career.”

Gabrielle saluted her husband’s contribution to the partnership and emphasised the harmony that they share on court. “We may not have had the best year but we probably played our best badminton this week,” she added. “We have that common ground that we both want to achieve the same thing and that trust in each other really helps.

“We were also very clinical and the shot quality that Chris produced from the back of the court was very effective and made all the difference.”

Come a long way

Chris, who partnered Scotland’s Imogen Bankier at the 2012 Olympic Games, also credited the coherence that he shares with his wife for this win.

“We’ve been playing lots together and I think we’ve really come a long way,” he said. “This is one of the tournaments that we really wanted to play well in and I guess that’s what we did.

“I think our never say die attitude and our resilience this week was a big factor and we played the big points really well … keeping cool and calm and making every shot count.”

Earlier, Chinese twins Luo Ying and Luo Yu, the world’s second ranked women’s double pair, came from a set down to beat Denmark’s Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juh (Denmakr) 14-21, 210-9, 14-4. The Danes retired in the decider when Pedersen reportedly had a bout of stomach cramps. It was only the second Superseries victory this year for the Chinese sisters following the Malaysian Open in April.