Badminton: British challenge ends knocked

Home hopes in the All England championships came to an end when the promising British mixed doubles pair, Chris Hunt and Donna Kellogg, were beaten 15-6 15-4 in the semi-finals by China's Liu Yong and Ge Fei.

Hunt, the Commonwealth games gold medallist, and Kellogg, 19, had beaten two seeded partnerships en route to the semis, but found life too tough against a formidable pair. There were just a couple of brief spells when Hunt's powerful smashing and Kellogg's eager net play made progress. They reached 6-13 and in the second game were 4-10 at one stage.

Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, the top seeded title holder and Olympic gold medallist, lost his chance of three All England titles in a row when he was beaten in the semi-finals 15-8 15-10 by China's Dong Jiong in a reversal of the result of the Olympic final. The Milton Keynes-based Hoyer-Larsen has not won an open tournament since Atlanta.

Dong's win made sure that both finals will be all-Chinese affairs for the first time in tomorrow's final he plays his compatriot Sun Jun, who beat the world champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia.