Sporting Digest: Badminton

DARREN HALL, the joint ninth seed, has been forced out of the All England Championships, which begin tonight in Birmingham, after aggravating a back injury he incurred before winning his seventh national singles title last month. Pernille Nedergaard, the European women's singles champion, has withdrawn after injuring a knee. The qualifying rounds had to be rescheduled after the Chinese and Danish teams had their travel plans disrupted yesterday because of the mortar bomb attacks on Heathrow Airport.