The Indian challenge at the World badminton championships, being played in Birmingham, came to an end on Thursday, with National champion Aparna Popat going down tamely to second seed Zhang Ning of China in the pre-quarter-finals.

Popat, who was lucky to enter the last 16 after a knee injury forced her South Korean opponent, Kim Kyeung Ran, to forfeit the tie, failed to trouble Ning, who won 11-4, 11-5.

In the first round, the Indian beat world No. 25 Wan Ting Ling of Hong Kong 13-10, 11-8, while in the second, the 10th seeded Ran conceded the tie while leading 9-7 in the first game.

Trupti Murgunde was routed 11-6, 11-0 by Japan's Kaori Mori in the second round last night.

Murgunde, a last minute entrant into the main draw, could not match the speed of her wily opponent, who had upset 15th seed Kelly Morgan of Wales in the first round, and surrendered in just 18 minutes.

In the women's doubles, the pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian went out to 16th seeds Wen-Hsing Cheng and Yu-Chin Chien of Chinese Taipei 8-15, 6-15 in a second round match.

Earlier report:

Aparna Popat in last 16