Aparna loses to Kelly in first round

Sydney: Aparna Popat could not hold on to a one-game lead and crashed out of the badminton championship at the Olympics losing her first round match to Kelly Morgan of Britain 11-5, 7-11, 2-11 on Saturday.

Twenty-two-year-old Aparna, among the top 20 players in the world, had lost to Kelly at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and had to be content with a silver.

Aparna had got a wild card entry to the Olympics after she missed three months of match practice due to the ban imposed on her by the International Badminton Federation for taking a medicine, which contained a banned stimulant.

UNI