Badminton: Defeat of Robertson and Emms ends hopes

England's last hope of a medal at the World Championships ended yesterday when Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms lost in the mixed doubles quarter-finals here at the National Indoor Arena.

The European silver medallists, who reached the world No 1 spot for the first time in April, lost to 13th seeds Chen Qiqiu and Zhao Tingting, of China, 15-11, 15-9 in 53 minutes, just as they had done in the Thailand Open final in January.

Robertson blamed lack of preparation for the tournament, which was rescheduled from its original date because of the impact of the Sars virus. "But for the postponement in May, I wouldn't have been playing at all," he said. "I only got back on court after elbow surgery three-and-a-half weeks ago, and I've only been in full training for a week and a half."

Robertson, a bronze medallist in the men's doubles with Simon Archer in 1999, and Emms reached the quarter-finals after beating Sweden's Fredrik Bergstrom and Johanna Persson in the third round on Thursday night. The third seeds won 15-4, 15-13 in 48 minutes.

Hertfordshire's Emms and Nottinghamshire's Robertson were the host nation's sole survivors after the Commonwealth silver medallist Tracey Hallam, from Staffordshire, had lost 11-1, 11-0 to the sixth seed Xie Xingfang, of China, in 24 minutes on Thursday.

The 15th seeds Robert Blair, of Leicestershire, and Natalie Munt, of Hertfordshire, lost to the reigning world and Olympic champions Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, of China, 15-4, 15-2 in the mixed doubles.

Cheshire's Ella Tripp and Lancashire's Jo Wright, the 11th seeds, failed to reach the last eight in the women's doubles, losing to Chikako Nakayama and Keiko Yoshitomi, the Japanese seventh seeds, 10-15, 15-10, 15-12 in 76 minutes.

The 1999 women's singles champion Camilla Martin, of Denmark, playing in her last World Championships before she retires after next year's Olympic Games, lost to the second seed Zhang Ning, of China, 11-6, 11-0 in 22 minutes.

The seventh-seeded Dane, who was world champion in 1999, found her opponent in top form. Martin said: "She played really well. When she plays like that she is almost impossible to beat. I think she will win the tournament."