By Milly McEvoy in Birmingham
Callum Hemming insisted it is just the start for him and Estelle van Leeuwen after a narrow defeat at the YONEX All England Badminton Championships.
The Milton Keynes natives were making their first All England appearance as a pairing with Van Leeuwen playing on the hallowed Birmingham court for the first time ever.
Up against the fourth seeds Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei, Van Leeuwen and Hemming took the first game before battling to a 17-21 21-12 21-19 loss.
“We can take that we performed a good level in parts and performed to quite a satisfying level for our standard,” Hemming said.
“On reflection, it is disappointing because we lost so closely, and we lost similarly closely at the start of the year in January in Malaysia so it is frustrating that we couldn’t turn it around and get the right result.
“It is just the start for us, there is still loads we can work on which is the positive. It would be a bit worrying if we were where we are now and were a bit stuck on what to do and we were thinking we were at our best level and can’t get any better.
“It’s not, it is far from it so we can take those sort of positives forward.
The pairing showed little signs of nerves in the opening exchanges as they took an early lead and were behind only briefly before pulling away and clinching the opener at the second time of asking.
The second game was a different affair as Yang and Hu looked to hit back as they won the first four points.
Van Leeuwen and Hemming were always on the back foot from there, but it inspired their strong start to the decider.
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The English partnership claimed the opening five points to regain their confidence, but once again Yang and Hu came roaring back to level the match at 7-7.
From there, the fourth seeds took the lead for the first time in the match and tried to build a commanding lead but Hemming and van Leeuwen remained in touching distance.
Having pulled back level at 16-16, the home hopes battled hard to get back on top, saving one match point before succumbing to a valiant defeat.
Van Leeuwen said: “It was really fun to play at the All England for the first time, when they announced our names and the crowd went wild, I was like ‘oh wow!’
“I had to take a moment, I have never heard anything like that before and I am sure tomorrow I will be very pleased with that performance but right now it is a bit tough.
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“It’s a good sign, they are the fourth seeds and we are 30 in the world. It shows that we’ve got the level.
“I don’t think I had my best match but even so I can take away that I didn’t play very well and we could have had it.”
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