World champion blames fatigue for All England flop

BIRMINGHAM, England: World champion Zhu Lin went crashing out of the first round of the All-England Open championships, complaining of feeling too tired.

The seventh-seeded Chinese player was hardly in it after the first game of a 21-17, 21-11 defeat to her compatriot Jiang Yanjiao, in which she finished looking too lethargic to seriously contest the outcome.

For a while, as she led 11-6 and 16-10, Zhu's fine movement looked as though it might take her to a routine victory over a colleague still ranked outside the top 20.