GREG Mairs may have missed out on a place at the All England Open Championship, but he insists he learned plenty in defeat on Tuesday.

The Northwich star bowed out at the qualifying stage for both the men’s and mixed doubles at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena.

“Every loss, you take something from,” said the 22-year-old left-hander afterwards.

“All England is the level I want to be playing at; that’s why I compete, it’s what I’m working towards.

“I can take away the experience of playing in a Superseries event, it’s the only one on the calendar I can enter.

“Playing under pressure like I did is really vital, as is facing experienced opponents.”

Mairs teamed up with Chris Coles in the men’s doubles, losing in straight games against (21-19, 21-17) to Indonesian duo Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya.

He then switched quickly to the mixed doubles, alongside regular playing partner Jenny Moore.

They received a walkover from their first tie after Team GB stars Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith withdrew.

A head-to-head with a Thai combination followed, only for the English pair - both students at Loughborough University - to miss out 14-21, 21-18, 10-21 despite a valiant comeback.

“We came out knowing they were a good pair, and that they’ve been on the circuit for a while," said Mairs, a former student at Sir John Deane's College.

“They’re very solid, and we knew we had to be on our A-game.

“We had an alright start, but we let it slip.

"We came back in the second game and kept fighting – the crowd were a big help in doing that.

“We just clinched that one, but then couldn’t keep our level high enough in the third.”

Now in its 107th year, the All England championships are one of five worldwide tournaments listed as a MetLife Badminton World Federation Superseries Premier event.

This year’s edition sees the sport’s best players descend on the Midlands, all challenging to take home the prized silverware.

THE world's best players are in Birmingham until Sunday for the YONEX All England Open Championships.

For tickets, television schedule, results and reaction, visit allenglandbadminton.com