Lauren Smith has spoken of her excitement as her bid to stay in the hunt for an Olympic medal continues.

The Cumbrian badminton star and mixed doubles partner Marcus Ellis take on Hong Kong opponents in tomorrow's quarter-finals in Tokyo.

After three straight wins to top their group, Smith and Ellis, who are ranked eighth in the world, now take on 13th-ranked Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet, who edged a three-set encounter with Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich to set up the last-eight tie.

Smith, from Longtown, and Ellis are in strong form having impressively seen off Thai third seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the group stage.

The 29-year-old Carlisle-born player said: “We’ve proven that there’s no obstacle too big - it’s just about making sure we prepare mentally right for every match and take the opportunities that have been given to us.

“Everyone we play against now, we’ll be underdogs and I think that’s a huge bonus. We’re really excited for another opportunity going forward.”

Tomorrow's match is set to start at 3.40am UK time.

 

Smith and women's doubles partner Chloe Birch, meanwhile, are out of the tournament at the group stages after three defeats.

But the Cumbrian said there were positives to take from their experience.

“The hardest thing for us was getting here,” said Smith.

“It was a really long process - 12 months turned into 24 months, and for us, just getting here was a huge achievement and we should hold our heads high. 

“We maybe didn't find our top level here, but at the same time, we were up against tough opponents and we didn't ever give up the fight.”

“I think it was patchy,” added Smith of their performance in defeat to Malaysia’s Lee Meng Yean and Chow Mei Kuan.

“I think we had a lot of good runs of executing tactics we wanted to, we fought really hard, but we also had too many patches of easy mistakes, giving them cheap points.

“They're good players - you can't afford to do that against them. 

“We know if we could've been a bit more solid, a bit more consistent that we would have got more easy errors from them eventually, but unfortunately we just couldn't keep that level where we needed to be.” 

Smith and Birch will now aim towards the World Championships in Spain later this year.

“Maybe we haven't found our rhythm in this hall, but it's been a good experience I think," she added.

“There’s loads to take from an event like this.”

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