British pair win title to boost Olympic hopes

BySportsbeat

Published 03/04/2016 at 15:33 GMT+1

National badminton champions Heather Olver and Lauren Smith boosted their Olympic qualification hopes with victory in the Orleans International 2016 women’s doubles final in France on Sunday.

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

England’s top seeds overcame unseeded French duo Delphine Delrue and Lea Palermo, 21-19, 21-8.

Smith said: “We’re really happy to have won this week, it’s good to take confidence going forward.

“In terms of Rio we are just focusing on performing every game, one at a time.”

25/04/2022 at 09:41

Runners-up last year, Olver and Smith were ruthless in the opening game as they looked to avoid a repeat of their 2015 heartache.

After building an initial 9-4 lead they later moved 16-13 ahead before closing out game one.

In the second, Olver and Smith stormed into an 11-0 lead and kept cool heads to get over the line.

Next on the calendar for Olver and Smith is this week’s Malaysian Open as the countdown to Rio continues.

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