A trio of British badminton stars have ended up in a love triangle with a difference after 23-year-old Chris Adcock ditched his girlfriend in search of Olympic glory.
Wait a second, though: Adcock has not pulled the plug on his
relationship with 21-year-old Gabby
White, but has stopped playing mixed
doubles with her in order to play alongside her 24-year-old arch-rival
Imogen Bankier.
Adcock and Bankier are now hot favourites to grab Britain's Olympic
qualification spot, while White will have to do with watching the Games
on TV.
And the situation sparked a Twitter spat between the two women.
Glaswegian Bankier kicked things off by blasting English players
following their national championships, saying in a Tweet that they
"couldn't serve".
White hit back, calling her "sour" for making the comment, while
English pal and team-mate Jenny Wallwork also weighed in calling Bankier
a "cripple" and telling her to "jog on back to Scotland.
All the players have now apologised for the row - Wallwork called it
"friendly banter that got out of hand" - but sources in the badminton
world say that the bitterness is for real.
"Gabby is obviously devastated that she's not doing as well as Imogen," an 'insider' told the Daily Mail.
"Imogen has just got that little bit more experience than Gabby at
the top level," the source added, explaining that it was Badminton
England who told Chris to switch partners.
"Chris and Imogen have just gone from strength to strength together
since then, whereas Gabby and her new partner have had some not-so-great
results. Unfortunately it now looks like Gabby is out of the running
for London 2012."
Adcock, very wisely, has yet to make any comment, though his mum did
confirm to the paper that Adcock and White are still an item off the
court, if nowhere else.
