Wilmslow’s Matthew Nottingham insists he can’t wait to test himself against the world’s best at next week’s YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships.
The 22-year-old, a former pupil at Wilmslow High School, will continue his blossoming partnership with Harley Towler at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena when the 2015 YONEX All England gets underway on March 3, the pair having teamed up last autumn.
The duo reached the English National Championship final last month but lost out to top seeds Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 21-17 19-21 21-15.
And Nottingham is confident he and Towler can see off their first round challengers of Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan of China in the first Superseries Premier event of 2015.
“I’ve played at the All England twice now and the goal this year is definitely to get a top scalp,” he said.
“If we get a good draw in the qualifying then we can get to the main draw and anything can happen there.
“The best result for us would be to draw a top 20 pairing who we can have a good go at, as there’s nothing to lose playing against players like that.
“The All England is something you always look towards and gear yourself up for. All the best players in the world are always there, no-one pulls out and no-one ever seems to be injured.”
Nottingham knows that picking up ranking points is vital for the duo if he and Towler are to go all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Only the top two men’s pairs will head to Brazil with Team GB, and Nottingham will strive to topple Ellis and Langridge and the other partnership consisting of Andy Ellis and Peter Mills.
“Definitely we are looking to push the top two pairs to get to Rio, there’s no reason that Harley and I can’t do that,” he added.
“I think everything that’s happened between us at the moment is positive and if it carries on in that direction we can do it.
“So for now it’s a really good goal for us to get through a couple of rounds at the All England and the points we would get for our world ranking would be astronomical for us.
“And it would definitely tell the coaches that we’re not here to be pushed over by the top two pairs; we are here to push them and hopefully get ahead ourselves.”
Tickets for the YONEX All England 2015 at the stunning new Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham are available at allenglandbadminton.com or call the box office on 0844 444 9994.
