Rain stopped play at the world badminton championships here on Tuesday -- a remarkable achievement even for Britain's notoriously unpredictable weather, given that the shuttlecock sport is being held in the National Indoor Arena.
But when the drizzle found its way through an air vent action on court number four was delayed for more than two hours before a large plastic sheet was used to plug the gap.
The incident was matched by surprises on the court.
Two brothers will play each other for the first time in a world badminton championship after Muhammad Roslin Hashim, who did not originally qualify to play in the tournament, caused an upset in the first round of the men's singles.
Roslin, who beat the 12th seeded Thai Open champion Boonsak 15-12, 15-9, was only a last moment substitute after the world championships were postponed because of the SARS virus.
Had the world championships taken place in May as planned, Roslin would not have competed because he was not in the world's top three. But when several players dropped out 10 weeks later Malaysia was allowed by the rules to have four entries.
The former world No. 1 from Malaysia, the top seed at the last world championships in Seville in 2001, grabbed his chance magnificently in a match in which both men switched from defense to attack and back again in a riot of breathtaking rallies.
It earned Roslin a meeting with his younger brother Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, who caused a sensation in this same arena five months ago when he won the All-England Open title as an unseeded player.
On that occasion Roslin narrowly missed playing Hafiz, losing in the semifinals and rushing off to catch a flight, only learning that Hafiz had grabbed the title when his brother sent him a text message.
Now Hafiz came through by beating Stanislav Pukhov of Russia 15-5, 15-5, and will face Roslin for only the second time in a tournament.
That was in the semifinals of the Dutch Open three years ago when Roslin won in straight games. There will be a hierarchy to overthrow if the tables are to be turned.
"I love the Birmingham venue because I have good memories of winning the All-England here," said Hafiz. "We will both fight to win."
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
Switzerland’s Riola Xhemaili on Thursday scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw with Finland that sent the joyous hosts through to the quarter-finals at Euro 2025, and heartbroken Finland home. Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal-difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time and are to face the winners of Group B, which would be world champions Spain as things stand. “I think we set ourselves a goal on the pitch, to write history, to go into the knockout stages, which we’ve never
RSS