Gopichand, Shyam Gupta
in second round

Defending champion Pulella Gopichand cruised past Mark Burgess in the first round of the All England badminton championship in Birmingham while his teammate Abhinn Shyam Gupta caused an early upset to move into the second round, on Wednesday.

Gopichand, seeded third, defeated Burgess of England 7-3, 7-0, 7-4 while Shyam Gupta beat 14th seed Saimul Amar Ayah of Malaysia 7-5, 7-2, 7-0 on the opening day of the tournament.

Earlier, reigning World champion Hendrawan of Indonesia pulled out of the championships following illness, the Badminton Association of England said.

The loss of the number eight seed on the eve of the tournament follows the withdrawal of World runner-up and 1999 All England winner Peter Gade of Denmark, seeded 16th, who has already been ruled out with a knee injury.

But the 1997 Wworld champion Peter Rasmussen, making his latest comeback after a frustrating run of injuries, remains in the tournament after coming through the qualifiers.

The Dane has booked a place in the men's singles first round against Ismail Saman of Malaysia when the action begins on Wednesday at the National Indoor Arena.

Rasmussen clinched his place with a 44-minute 7-2, 6-8, 7-5, 7-1 victory over England's Afghan-born prospect Aamir Ghaffar

Joining him in the first round was another of the improving squad of Indian players following Pullela Gopichand's triumph last year.

Arvind Bhatt dashed the hopes of England's former European and 10-times national champion Darren Hall, who at 36 may well have made his last All England appearance.

Bhatt won a whirlwind 30-minute battle 7-2, 2-7, 5-7, 7-1, 7-0.

BIG NAMES

Rasmussen was not the only big name in the qualifiers.

Britain's Olympic bronze medallists Simon Archer and Jo Goode were the first qualifying winners, the 1999 mixed doubles champions clinching both their matches in straight games in their first tournament together since Sydney.

Archer has been out for eight months following knee surgery and Goode took time out having her second child.

The England pair beat Korea's Lee Jae-Jin and Hwang Yoo-Mee 7-1, 8-7, 8-6 then knocked out China's Wang Wei and Wei Yili in their group final 7-3, 7-4, 7-4.

Archer reached the semifinals last year with Gail Emms but his path this week is barred by holders and world champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling at the quarter-final stage.

Goode said: "It's nice to get a couple of matches played. They were not easy but it was good to win them. The scoring system (five games to seven points) is new to us but as long as we serve all right we can get used to it."

Archer added: "We've got a good draw. I'm looking at the quarter-finals and if someone had told me before the tournament that I would go that far I would be more than happy."

But the most intriguing sight was in the women's doubles qualifying where singles world champion and third seed Gong Ruina teamed up with second seed Zhang Ning, while top seed Zhou Mi partnered 1999 world runner-up and seventh seed Dai Yun.

Any of the four could win the singles, but without a recognised doubles ranking they had to enter the qualifying competition. Gong and Zhang lost in a five-set group final to Dai Yun and Zhou Mi, who go into the first round.