2010 All News
11.10.10
Nathan and Jenny survive a scare as England produce five semi-finalists
Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork survived a Scottish scare before coming through their mixed doubles quarter-final with Watson Briggs and Imogen Bankier at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi tonight.
Robertson, the defending champion, and new partner Wallwork trailed 19-14 in the first and 18-16 in the second game before hitting back to win 22-20 23-21.
They will now face Malaysia's fourth seeds Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying, who got the better of England's seventh seeds Chris Adcock and Gabby White 22-20 16-21 21-11.
And there was disappointment for England fifth seeds Anthony Clark and Heather Olver, who had been hoping to meet Robertson and Wallwork in the final. They lost a tough contest to Singapore's third seeds Chayut Triyachart and Yao Lei 19-21 21-8 21-12.
Nine England contenders came through the quarter-finals in the morning and five survived into the last four.
In the men's singles second seed Rajiv Ouseph repeated his win over Singapore's Derek Wong in the team bronze medal match, winning their quarter-final 21-13 21-15 and now has the chance to avenge his defeat by India's Parupalli Kashyap in the team event semi-final.
But fifth seed Carl Baxter failed to join Ouseph in the last four, losing to India's third seed Chetan Anand 21-17 21-9.
Elizabeth Cann, who lost the bronze medal play-off to Susan Egelstaff in Melbourne four years ago, scored a gritty win over Canada's Michelle Li 21-14 19-21 21-16 and now meets 2006 runner-up Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia.
Egelstaff is also through to the last four after beating Huang Chia Chi of Australia 21-18 21-15.
Gabby White got over her mixed doubles disappointment by booking a women's doubles semi-final place with Wallwork. The third-seeded Leeds pair were too strong for Malaysia's Lydia Cheah and Goh Liu Ying, coming through in three games 21-15 16-21 21-13. They now face top seeds Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei of Singapore.
But Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver, the European bronze medallists, saw their medal hopes disappear as they lost to second seeds Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa of India 21-9 21-14.
That left Robertson and Clark, the second seeds, to reach the men's doubles semi-finals with a 21-8 21-7 win over Malaysia's Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and Chan Peng Soon. But Malaysian top seeds Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong remain the big obstacle in the quest for gold.
