Badminton: England close in on finals

ENGLAND'S chances of getting both men and women's teams through to the world team finals improved when Suzanne Louis-Lane and Alison Humby produced victories in a 4-1 success over the Netherlands in Glasgow yesterday, writes James Leigh.

It took England to within one win of reaching the eight- nation finals in Jakarta in May. With a clear superiority in the two doubles, England needed only one win in the three singles matches and Louis-Lane, the national champion, obliged with an 11-7, 6-11, 11-7 win over the former world No 9, Astrid van der Knaap.

Humby then recovered from within two points of defeat at 9-10 to win 7-11, 12-10, 11-7 over the Dutch No 3, Caroline Glebbeek.

Later, England's men also came to within one victory of the finals when they took a winning 3-0 lead over Scotland.