Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock reach last 16 of Worlds

British pair Imogen Bankier and Chris Adcock have reached the last 16 of the mixed doubles at the badminton World Championships in London.

The Wembley Arena crowd gave a standing ovation as Bankier and Adcock defeated eighth seeds Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul.

The 24-22 21-19 win leaves them as the last British players left.

Bankier told BBC Sport: "We did a lot of preparation and believed we could win. We hope we can keep it up."

She added: "This is one of the key championships of the year so there are big ranking points up for grabs."

Their victory comes a day after Britain's top ranked pair, Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, were defeated in the second round.

Ranked eighth in the world, Robertson and Wallwork are Britain's biggest 2012 Olympic medal hopes yet fell to Malaysia's Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh, who are nine places below them in the world standings.

"It's a shame they went out," Adcock said. "But in terms of the Olympics it's an individual sport. I'm not saying I'm excited that they went out but it spurred us on to become the last British mixed doubles in the draw."

Currently ranked 20th, Bankier and Adcock would need to leapfrog Robertson and Wallwork to qualify for the Olympics.

Bankier and Adcock will play Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota in their third round clash. The Japanese pair are the 15th seeds whom they have already played this season.

"We won but it was a very close game," Adcock said. "It's not about who we're playing, it's about how we perform.

"We believe if we play as we have previously been performing, we can do some real damage here."

Adcock went on to partner Andy Ellis in the men's doubles but the pair lost 21-18 13-21 13-21 to fifth seeds Ko Sung Hyun and Yoo Yeon Seong.

There was disappointment for women's doubles wildcard entries Alex Langley and Lauren Smith who bowed out to Poon Lok Yan and Tse Ying Suet, 21-10 22-10 in the second round.

Toby Penty was beaten in the men's singles by Japan's Sho Sasaki, 21-13 21-13 in just 26 minutes.