Gopichand bows out

All-England champion Pulella Gopichand crashed out of the Malaysian Open badminton championship, being played at the Malawati stadium in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The Indian ace lost his men's singles third round match to the Asian championship silver medallist Rony Augustinus of Indonesia, 6-8, 3-7, 5-7.

The Indian, who is playing his first tournament under the new format, found difficulty in adjusting to the points system and was always behind. He did tried his best to bounce back by adpoting a more aggressive approach, but it resulted in him making more mistakes.

Rony will face world champion Hendrawan in the quarter-finals. Hendrawan was forced to work hard for a 5-7, 8-6, 7-0, 5-7, 7-2 victory over Singapore's Indra Wijaya, runner-up in 1996 to Malaysian Ong Ewe Hock.

Top seed Chen Hong of China was forced to drop a game before beating Muhd Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia, 7-3, 2-7, 7-3, 7-1. He will play Ng Wei of Hong Kong in the quarter-finals. Wei was awarded the match after Cai Yun of China conceded while trailing 4-7, 5-7, 7-3, 7-2, 3-5.

In the other two quarter-finals, Xia Xuanze of China will face Lee Hyun Il of Korea, while Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia, the 1996 champion, will face Lin Dan of China.

Lin Dan is the surprise package of the tournament, having had to make the main draw from the qualifiers.

In the doubles, India's V Diju and Thomas Sanave lost to the British pair of Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark 3-7, 4-7, 4-7 in the second round.

Earlier report:
Gopichand advances, Abhinn loses
Gopichand meets Anderson in first round