Chen Xinhua clinched England's win over Croatia at the World Championships in Tianjin, China, yesterday, after having attacked the selectors for their choices on Saturday, making it a controversial return to his home country of China for the Yorkshire-based 35-year-old. Chen overcame Davor Karlovic 21-13 21-14 to complete a 3-0 win for England, which enables the men to finish 13th if they can win their last match today.
He forcefully made his views known about team selection - a team which includes the 39-year-old Desmond Douglas - saying: "This is all wrong. We should not be playing so many matches as this at our ages. They should have spent more money on bringing a young man here as well."
England's women, who won 3-1 against both Belgium and the Netherlands on Saturday, lost 3-0 to Russia yesterday, but still finished in 10th position, three places higher than last time.
Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong rode a wave of patriotic fervour to land China's 11th women's team title. The defending champions, backed by a raucous crowd of 10,000, were invincible, with a sparkling 3-0 victory over South Korea in the final.
Results, Sporting Digest, page 29
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