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Pittard pitted against Yonekura
Jul 23 2003
Badminton
By Colin Stoner, Birmingham Post
Midlander Jill Pittard will need to produce one of the upset victories of her career to make progress in the world championships in Birmingham next week.
The Coventry girl, the England No 3, has been handed a wild card in womens singles for the prestigious tournament at the National Indoor Arena.
But the world No 38 will need to topple the eighth seed, Japans Kanako Yonekura, when they meet in the first round. Yonekura has reached three finals this year to rise to No 9 in the world rankings and won in New Zealand in her last competition.
Pittards team-mates and fellow Midlanders Julia Mann and Tracey Hallam have contrasting tests in their matches in the 13th world championships, which start on Monday.
Eight-times national champion Mann, the 16th seed from Solihull, will be favourite to overcome Yu-Chin Chien, the world No 129 from Chinese Taipei, but left-hander Hallam, from Burton-on-Trent, will be the underdog against 14th seed Miho Tanaka, of Japan. However, Hallam will be positive about the chances of an upset with only seven places in the world list separating her with the 17th-ranked Tanaka.
Worcesters Simon Archer had been handed a first-round bye in the mixed doubles with his new partner Kirsteen McEwan. But Archer, who won Britains first Olympic badminton medal with Jo Goode in Sydney, and McEwan will then have to tackle fourth seeds Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen, of Denmark.
In the mens doubles, former world bronze medalist Archer and Graham Hurrell open their bid against Greek duo Theodoros Velk and George Patis.
Archer collected the bronze medal in the mens doubles with Nathan Robertson in the 1999 world championships, but is a surprise entrant this time with Hurrell after Julian Robertsons partnership with Peter Jeffrey was ruined when the latter contracted reactive arthritis.
The luck of the draw evaded Nathan Robertson and Nottinghamshire county team-mate Anthony Clark, the tenth seeds, who have been paired with Commonwealth champions Choon Eng Che and Chong Ming Cha, of Malaysia.
The championships had been postponed from the original May dates due to concerns over the SARS virus but the event, which finishes on August 3, will attract 330 competitors from 46 countries.
