Badminton: Ciniglio's selection ploy succeeds: England record a remarkable comeback victory

ENGLAND'S astonishing recovery from 2-0 down to beat the European Champions, Sweden, 3-2 on Saturday has helped persuade the manager, Ciro Ciniglio, not to quit.

The comeback, which prevented relegation from the top group of the Sudirman Cup World Team Championship, meant the man with a gift for selection gambles will remain until July 1994.

This time Ciniglio selected Chris Hunt and Nick Ponting in the men's doubles, yet the pair who had only one previous tournament together won 15-7, 18-15 in the decider against the pair who clinched the European team title for Sweden, Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson.

Upset by the Gill Clark-Gillian Gowers row which separated England's best-known partnership, Ciniglio moved from depression to elation within 24 hours. Clark and her new partner, 20-year-old Joanne Wright, beat Maria and Catrine Bengtsson 11-15, 18-14, 18-16. Nevertheless, his gamble would have been useless but for Jo Muggeridge's fightback in the women's singles. England were two down and she was 11-0 and 2-0 down - yet she recovered to beat Christine Magnusson 0-11, 11-7, 11-4.

Yesterday, the All-England women's doubles champions, Chung So-Young and Gil Young-Ah, saved two match points against Finarsih and Lili Tampi as South Korea, the holders, held on to the Sudirman Cup, beating Indonesia.