Vendy admits crowd contributed to YONEX All England Open defeat

Sean Vendy admitted that he and men’s doubles partner Ben Lane may have been put off by the home crowd at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships.

The pair played in front of a lively home crowd at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham and lost Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-9 21-19.

Vendy also explained how the conditions inside the hall took time to get used to as the English pairing suffered a slow start against the Japanese sixth seeds.

“Obviously, a home crowd is a little bit of pressure,” he said. “All our friends and family are here and they don't get to see us play that often.

“So we wanted to come out and put on a good performance but there might have been a little bit of nerves there.

“The halls were a little bit endy, so it was easier to play on one side of the court than the other.

“We weren't really playing the conditions that well in the first and we had got used to it in the second and came out strong but we just missed a few easy chances and I think that was the difference.”

Vendy and Lane lost five points in a row in the first game to sit 13 points off their opponents who held on to close out the opener.

The Milton Keynes-based pair came out firing in the second and were in touching distance of forcing a decider before the World No.6s closed out the game at the third time of asking.

He added: “Usually we’re pretty good at starting, I think the home crowd might have just played a little part in coming out slowly and then it was 15-5 and we kind of knew the set was gone at that point.

“It was just about trying to get ready for the second set, which we did pretty well because we came out good.

“I wouldn’t say dealing with the crowd is a problem in our game or anything like that, it was just one of those things.

“We were up against really good opposition today as well and we gave them a bit of confidence, they settled and if we came out good it could have been a different story.

“We had the Commonwealths here in 2022 and we got a silver medal and we were just loving the home crowd atmosphere, so it's not something that puts us off.

“It's something that we thrive on and something that massively helps us so today we were just up against good opponents.”

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