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Gopichand stars in win over Austria

Pulela Gopichand turned in a sterling performance as India got the better of Austria 4-1 in a Group III A encounter of the Sudirman Cup Badminton Championships at Copenhagen yesterday.
The Indian champion first won his singles match easily, beating Austria's No 1 player Heino Gotsch 15-3, 15-6, after India's doubles combination of Jaseel P Ismail and Manjusha Kanwar were beaten by Jurgen Koch and Irina Serova 9-15, 11-15, and then teamed with Ismail to score over the Koch brothers, Jurgen and Harold. Gopichand and Ismail, who paired up for the first time, dropped just nine points in each game before wining the match.

A while earlier, India's women's champion Aparna Popat had got the better of Tina Riedl 11-3, 11-5. Kanwar and PVV Laxmi completed the rout with a 15-4, 15-7 victory over Serova and Riedl. India meet England next.

Meanwhile, the sport's giants China and Denmark kept on course on for a final showdown. Both countries won their final group matches to maintain their 100 per cent records in the elite group of the 51-nation tournament. But victories were in constrasting fashion, with Denmark thrashing Sweden 5-0, and China edging past Indonesia 3-2. The result meant that China would face South Korea, while Denmark meet inaugural champions Indonesia in the semi-finals on Friday.