Injury-hit Adcock praised after defending doubles title

The European champions and world bronze medallists exited the recent Yonex All England Championships at the last eight stage for the first time since 2015.

And Leeds’s Gabby has spent the season battling a troublesome ankle injury.

But they won a high-quality final against English team-mates Marcus Ellis – from Huddersfield – and Lauren Smith, taking the gold 21-19, 17-21, 21-16.

“Gabby has been out for pretty much the whole year,” said Chris.

“She hasn’t had two consecutive weeks training the whole year, so to come back and do this is, it is hard to put words.

“We played the All England Open the week before we came here to get us into form and then Gabby had to have another week off because she hurt herself again.

“We’ve had literally one week of training so it’s very special. Standing on the podium, with the England flag going up is an unbelievable feeling. But doing it with your wife is something I can’t even explain.”

Gabby, who picked up her injury playing in the Indian Premier League in January, admitted she was far from her best but claimed heart and determination dragged her through.

Focus will now switch to getting back to fitness ahead of the World Championships in Nanjing this summer.

“Firstly, I was just so happy I could play after the time I’ve had,” she said

“I can’t thank Chris enough. He’s been amazing support throughout the year. When I haven’t been on court, he’s pretty much been playing singles for the last three months.

“I like to come into tournaments feeling prepared, so this has exceeded my expectations.”

The Adcocks played near the perfect game to close in on victory but their rivals, trailing 12-3, rallied to make the scoreline closer.

“I think they came out with nothing to lose and we started to get a little bit tense,” added Chris.

“They are great players, they have shown that and we needed to stay switched on until the end.”

Callum Hawkins said he was feeling “much better” in a statement released from his hospital bed following his collapse towards the end of the men’s marathon on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Scot fell while leading with a mile-and-a-half left and was struggling on the ground for several minutes in the heat before eventually being helped into an ambulance.

Hawkins, speaking from hospital, said: “Thanks for all your messages of support today and to the Gold Coast University Hospital staff. I am now feeling much better.”

The Scotland team released a statement which revealed that Hawkins will be kept in hospital overnight as a precaution before follow-up checks by its medical team on Monday.

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