OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Troke choked

HELEN TROKE, Britain's most successful badminton singles player of the past 10 years, was beaten by the world champion Tang Jiuhong, increasing speculation that she will retire. Troke, twice European and Commonwealth champion, survived for only 14 minutes in an 11-3, 11-0 defeat, and will be advised not to continue after the world championships in nine months.

There was a good British win in the men's doubles, with Nick Ponting and Dave Wright beating the Germans Stefan Frey and Stefan Kuhl 15-7, 15-9 to earn a contest with one of the world's best pairs, Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia.