Badminton: Great Dane proves too strong for Egelstaff in quarter-final

SCOTLAND'S Susan Egelstaff, the No 8 seed, suffered a disappointingly heavy defeat from Denmark's Tine Rasmussen in the quarter-finals of the Yonex European Badminton Championships at the MEN Arena in Manchester yesterday.

The Bank of Scotland International Champion had been in fine form in winning her first two matches in straight games, but she never threatened to cause an upset against the All-England Open Champion.

Second seed Rasmussen showed her class in a 21-8, 21-16 victory that lasted just 25 minutes and ended Egelstaff's hopes of adding a European medal to the bronze won in Melbourne in 2006. "But at least I reached my seeded position and it was nice to be the last British woman in the singles," said the Glaswegian 27-year-old, who pushed China's world champion Lu Lan to three games at the All-England last month.

"This was my final tournament of the season and I'll now have a week's holiday before getting straight into summer training. I have the World Championships in August, but the main goal is to be ready for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October."

In the women's doubles, Imogen Bankier and Emma Mason, the Yonex Scottish National Champions, also went out at the quarter-final stage, losing 14-21, 12-21 to the Russian No 2 seeds, Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova.