Gopichand in pre-quarter-finals

All England badminton champion Pulella Gopichand moved into the pre-quarter-finals in the Denmark Open 2001, being played at Farum Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Denmark Open is prestigious 6-star tournament, which, with prize-money of US $250,000, is the most lucrative World Grand Prix event alongside the Korea Open.

Gopichand, who is seeded seventh in the tournament, defeated Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands 7-5, 8-6, 7-0 in his second round match.

The Indian ace, had earlier defeated Andrew Smith of England 7-2, 7-4, 7-1 in his first round match on Tuesday.

In the next round he will face the ninth seed Lee Tsuen Seng of the Malaysia, on Thursday. Lee Tsuen Seng defeated Przemuslaw Wacha of Poland 7-2, 7-3, 2-7, 8-6 in his second round match.

Seng will be a tough opponent for the Indian as the Malaysian is in a fine form after winning the Holland Open last week.

Gopichand was seeded fourth in the last year's edition of the tounrnament and lost in the second round to Johan Hadikusuma of Indonesia.

In an another match, George Rimarcdi of Sweden, who had upset third seed Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia on Tuesday, lost to Bao Chunlai of China 4-7, 2-7, 7-2, 2-7 in his second round match.

After Peter Gade's withdrawal, all the local fans were looking at the 12th seed Anders Boesen for inspiration, but he also went down to Muhammad Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia 6-8, 7-4, 3-7, 7-3, 5-7 in a tough second round match.

Hafiz, the younger brother of Malaysia's number one shuttler Roslin Hashim will clash with Indonesia's Johan Hadikusuma next.

All the other seeds won their second round matches.

In the women's sections, Aparna Popat lost to unseeded Christina Sorensen of Denmark 5-7, 4-7, 1-7 in the first round match on Wednesday. Popat had qualified for the main draw after winning the qualifier.

B R Meenakshi, who got a direct entry, also lost to Zeng Yaqiong of China 3-7, 0-7, 1-7 in her first round match.