Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms provided a tonic for the Great Britain team on Tuesday night. They opened their badminton mixed doubles campaign by downing a Chinese pair including Gao Ling, a double Olympic gold medallist, to the despair of a frenzied local crowd.

In spite of this pulsating win though, it is hard not to see the British pair, who play their next match tonight, as relics. Both 31, they could be among the last truly competitive European badminton players.