The RVBA and Badminton Wales pair Sarah Thomas and Rachel Thomas today saw their World Badminton Championships campaign come to an end in the second round. The Thomas sisters were up against World No5 and tournament seeds Wen Hsing Cheng & Yu Chin Chien from Taiwan. Winners of two recent Badminton Super Series Tournaments.

The match started off well for the Badminton Wales pair with a tight first half, down 7-11 at th break. The Taiwan pair then looked more comfortable in the 2nd half clsoing the set 9-21. In the second set the Badminton Wales pair started poorly with unforced errors and the class of the Taiwan pair showed taking a 2-11 lead. In the second half of the set the Badminton Wales pair regained their confidence, fighting for every rally even if they were unable to win too many of the long exchanges. The Taiwanese taking the match 21-9, 21-3.

Rachel Thomas commented “It was dissappointing we could not have made it closer in the second set. The first set was really good, and I think we relaxed and made a few mistakes at the start. Its been a great week In India mixing with some really top players like Peter Gade, Pi Hongyan, and we’ve been lucky enough to get some great sparring matches against the Top Hong Kong ladies doubles pair”

RVBA Coach Richard Vaughan commented “It was a good game in a difficult hall, against a top pair. Hopefully the girls will learn from the match and the weeks training. Both of which will help them over the forthcoming season.”

The World Badminton Champion ships had been marred by the withdrawal of the English Badminton Team on securities grounds. Then with a suspected ‘Swine Flu’ epidemic scare with one of the Malaysian Coaches having flu like symptoms, only later to produce a negative test for ‘Swine flu’.

Vaughan commented “The Badminton World Federation have had a difficult time the past week, but I think overall they have made the correct decisions. The security efforts in India were high with lots of soldiers around, but it’s to be expected given the current climate. Indonesia is no different, and there was a Super Series event there a few months ago. The British High Commission called at the onset of the story and assured us that the situation in India was unchanged and there had not been any specific threat against the event or any of the Badminton teams. The BWF security liaison also kept us updated on events”.