Badminton: Van Rietvelde on a roll

LONGNIDDRY teenager Paul van Rietvelde and England's Ben Stawski showed they are a badminton pair with promise by reaching the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the 45 Victor Portuguese International at Caidas da Rainha.

The unseeded British double act stormed through the opening two rounds without dropping a game and then created a massive upset by battling to a 21-18, 10-21, 21-19 victory over the German No.4 seeds Maurice Niesner and Till Zander to make the last four. But 18-year-old Van Rietvelde, already recognised as a huge Scottish doubles talent, and Stawski, finally met their match in the No.2 seeds, Zvonimir Durkinjak and Zvonimir Hoebling, the Croatians winning 21-15, 21-19.

In the final, Durkinjak and Hoebling then lost 18-21, 14-21 to a Danish unseeded pair of Martin Kragh and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, who had knocked out the English top seeds, Peter Mills and Marcus Ellis, in the semi-finals.