Gopichand gets a thrashing

Indian badminton ace Pulella Gopichand crashed out of the Copenhagen Masters 2001, being played in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday.

The All-England champion lost both of his matches, the first against Luo Yigang of China 1-7, 1-7, 0-7, and then against defending champion Peter Gade of Denmark 2-7, 7-3, 1-7, 0-7.

The Indian's opening match, against Yigang, should have been a formality, going by the rankings, but nothing went right for him. He did manage to take serves away from Yigang in the first game, but was unable to score. His netplay was weak and he was surprisingly slow at clearing the net. The Chinese kept the shuttle in play and waited for Gopichand to make the error. How pathetic the Indian's play was can be gauged by the fact that he was allowed just two serves in the third game.

Later in the evening, Gopichand was up against Peter Gade. Many expected a keen contest following the Indian's victory over the Dane at the last All England. However, it fizzled out into a one-sided contest, though Gopichand managed to take the second game.

Gade didn't play as well as he would have hoped to do, but in the end he was satisfied with the result.

In the final on Saturday, Gade will face Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia.

Hann defeated Danish No. 2 Kenneth Jonassen 7-0, 3-7, 7-8, 7-2, 7-2 to enter final.

In the women's singles final, Camilla Martin of Denmark will take on Zhang Ning of China.

Martin defeated Pi Hong Yan of China 7-3, 3-7, 7-4, 8-7 while Ning downed Mette Sørensen of Denmark 7-3, 7-3, 7-2 to enter final.

In the men's doubles, the Indonesian pair of Sigit Budiarto and Candra Wijaya will face Jesper Larsen and Jim Laugesen of Denmark.

Earlier report:
Gopichand, Gade to clash in Copenhagen Masters