Olympic hero Marcus Ellis believes he and partner Chris Langridge will need to be at their best if they are to add the Scottish Open Badminton Championship title to their trophy haul.
The St Albans-based badminton ace teamed up with Langridge as they dispatched Scottish pair Jack MacGregor and Ciar Pringle 21-6 21-12 in the first round at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Ellis has previously won the mixed doubles at the tournament alongside Gabby Adcock in 2012, while he also claimed victory in the men’s doubles with Peter Mills in 2010.
He has since built up a formidable pairing with Langridge, which has seen them take bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics before being crowned Commonwealth Champions this year.
But with the Scottish Open eluding the silverware-hungry duo, Ellis is taking nothing for granted as they look to brush aside the competition and deliver on the big stage once again.
“It was a good way for us to start, we had an opportunity to see what the hall was like, get used to the conditions and really settle ourselves in,” said the 29-year-old on their first round win.
“I don’t know who we’re playing next but I’m sure it will be a little bit more challenging and we definitely have to be ready for that.
“We are coming here as top seeds so technically on paper we’re supposed to win it but we play against some of the other guys week in, week out and have tough matches against them.
“Nothing is a given and we will definitely have to play our best to win, so that’s going to be a big focus for us. We know we can win when we play our best and that’s how we see it.
“Coming off the back of the tournaments we’ve just played, our form has been a bit inconsistent but the performances where we’ve done well have been close to world class level.
“We have to take confidence from that coming into a tournament like this. We are number one seeds and whether there is extra pressure or not we have to learn from those performances.”
Ellis was also in action in the first round of the mixed doubles with Lauren Smith, who he won silver with on the Gold Coast earlier this year, as they beat Mathlas Bay-Smidt and Rikke Søby.
“It was a tough opening match for us, it was a definite banana skin if we weren’t fully switched on, but we played okay even though there are still things to improve on,” he said.
“You don’t want to play your best in the first round, you want to get better and better as the tournament goes on and it’s a busy week playing two events, but hopefully we can win both.”
The Scottish Open Badminton Championships are being staged at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow from November 21-25 by Badminton Scotland with support from Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. Tickets are on sale now at www.badmintonscotland.org.uk
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