Date:06/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/06/stories/2008030660112300.htm

Sport - Tennis

Indian challenge ends

BIRMINGHAM: The Indian challenge in the men’s singles ended early in the All-England badminton championship on Wednesday.

Anup Sridhar went down fighting in the first round to the top seed Lin Dan of China 21-16, 8-21, 11-21.

Arvind Bhat and Chetan Anand made their exits in the qualifying round.

Weijie Gong of China defeated Arvind Bhat 18-21, 21-19, 21-19 while Seung Mo Shon of Korea beat Chetan Anand 21-11, 21-19.

In the women’s singles qualifying round, Firdasari Ardiyanti of Indonesia beat Jwala Gutta 21-9, 21-7 and Shruti Kurien also lost in the qualifying round to Pia Bernadet 7-21, 21-17, 9-21.

Major upset

Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip pulled off a huge upset by knocking out World No.1 and three-time winner Xie Xingfang 22-20, 21-19.

Important results (f irst round):

Men: Lin Dan bt Anup Sridhar 16-21, 21-8, 21-11.

Women: Pui Yin Yip bt Xie Xingfang 22-20, 21-19; Zhu Lin bt Kaori Mori 22-20, 21-9; Pi Hongyan bt Petya Nedelcheva 21-16, 21-10; Wang Chen bt Xing Aiying 21-12, 21-11.