Gopichand advances, Popat out

Indian ace and world No. 6 Pullela Gopichand cleared the first hurdle at the prestigious All-England badminton championships by ousting Ronald Susilo of Singapore 15-11, 15-12 in the first round on Wednesday.

India's top women's seed Aparna Popat, however, failed to withstand the challenge of Brenda Beenhakker of The Netherlands and made her exit from the championship.

Popat lost 9-11, 11-9, 5-11.

The women's top seeds begin their campaign later on Thursday, with World champion Camilla Martin lining up against Charmaine Reid of Canada and titleholder and Olympic champion Gong Zhichao facing Tina Rasmussen of Denmark.