London: The Great Britain head coach, Jakob Hoi believes England exceeded their expectations at the recent Badminton World Championships, despite disappointments along the way.
There were solid performances from Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge who made it to the last eight while Toby Penty produced the best result of his career by reaching the second round.
Chris and Gabby Adcock, meanwhile, made it the last 16 before being forced to withdraw due to illness.
And Hoi says that with all things considered the competition can be viewed as a success and a positive step on the road to Rio.
“There’s no doubting that illness and sickness had a massive impact on our performances during, and at the end of the World Championships,” Hoi told Badminton England.
“Yes, we took quite a severe hit, but we delivered on and exceeded our set target of one quarter-final berth in Jakarta.
“We travelled back with a feeling of disappointment, while the debrief for the event was very flat from a mental point of view.
“Of course we are happy about two quarter finals, but due to the situation and the upcoming programme there was no time – nor energy – to celebrate.”
— Sportsbeat