Indian shuttlers on promotion trail

India routed Austria 5-0 on the second day of the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton tournament on Tuesday to move within sight of promotion.

Following Monday's 4-1 success over Wales, the Indians look capable of moving into division two, just one step away from the elite group which fights for the Cup itself every two years.

Gopichand, out of action since winning the All England title in March, was made to work for his 15-12, 15-7 success over Austrian Juergen Koch but won in the end with a little to spare.

That made it 2-0 in the best of five tie, after B R Meenakshi beat Simone Prutsch 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 in the opening tie. The men's doubles pairing of Markose Bristow and Jaseel Ismail clinched victory in the following match.

Conditions in the playing hall at the San Pablo complex remained hot and humid as outside Seville continued to undergo a heat wave. On Monday, temperatures in the streets had hovered around 40C with even the locals moved to remark on the weather.

After a miserable Olympics, India has enjoyed greater sporting success this year, sparked in part by Gopichand's All England triumph where his victims included Olympic champion Ji Xinpeng and the then world number one Peter Gade of Denmark.

India's last opponents in group three's round-robin on Wednesday are Hong Kong, 5-0 winners over Austria on Monday, and impressive as they swept to a 5-0 victory over Wales on Tuesday.

India will have to win the clash as they have only won 9 matches with a plus-13 as games difference and plus-98 as points difference while Hong kong has won 10 matches with plus-19 as games difference and plus-169 as points difference.

The Welsh will struggle to keep division three status after their top men's singles player Richard Vaughan had to pull out of his match on Tuesday with Agus Hariyanto after just one game because of a hip injury.

"I did it last week in training but I'll be playing tomorrow. It's a match we have to win," said the world number 10. Wales meet Austria in a relegation showdown on Wednesday with Vaughan expected to play both singles and mixed doubles.

Meanwhile in the elite group Indonesia were taking on England later on Tuesday while South Korea were up against Sweden. On Monday, China beat the Swedes 5-0 and Denmark defeated England by the same score.

Scores:

Group B: India beat Austria 5-0
B R Meenakshi beat Simone Prutsch 11-8, 8-11, 11-7.
Pulella Gopichand beat Juergen Koch 15-12, 15-7
Markose Bristowe and Jaseel Ismail beat Heimo Gotschl and Harald Koch 13-15, 15-10, 15-6.
Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian beat Sabine Franz and Simone Prutsch 15-13, 15-6
Chetan Anand and Manjusha Kanwar beat Juergen Koch and Bettina Weilguni 15-6, 13-15, 15-2.