Gopichand in third round

All England champion Pulella Gopichand was forced to drop a game before gaining a third round berth in the men's singles at the XII World badminton championships in Seville, Spain, on Wednesday.

The Indian ace beat American qualifier Kevin Han 15-6, 11-15, 15-7 in a match that lasted almost 70 minutes.

The match started with Han quickly establishing a 5-3 lead as Gopi took time to settle down. But once the Indian found his touch, he rattled off quick winners, mainly on net duels and allowed Han just one more point as he won the game at 6.

In the second game, Han again went into an early 5-0 lead, which he consolidated to 9-1. Though Gopi recovered splendidly, cutting short the deficit to 8-13, the American took the game at 15-11.

With the scores level, a battle royal was expected in the decider. However, it fizzled out into a tame affair as Gopichand exerted authority from the outset. For first time in the match he picked the first points and quickly raced to a 6-0 lead. Han tried his best to make a comeback, but the Indian's vast experience in crunch situations and cool temperament proved to much for him.

Gopichand will now face Fung Permadi of Taipei. Earlier in the day, Permadi defeated Bertrand Gallet of France 15-9, 15-2 in his second round match.

Indian mixed toubles team out

In the mixed doubes, Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia proved too good for India's Jaseel Ismail and Madhumita Bisht, winning 15-4, 15-8.

The other Indian pair to make the main draw, V Diju and P V V Lakshmi lost to Graham Hurrell and Sarah Hardekar of England 8-15, 17-14, 11-15.

Earlier report:
Gopichand romps into second round