Badminton: NZ pairing fight hard in opening loss

New Zealanders Dan Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen nearly caused a mixed doubles at the US$170,000 ($293,965) Singapore Open yesterday, pushing the world's fourth ranked badminton pairing to the limit before losing in three sets.

The English combination of Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms took 73 minutes to win 15-12 11-15 15-8 in the first round match.

It was an encouraging performance from the world No 19 ranked New Zealanders heading into the Indonesia and Malaysia Opens before playing the Danish and German Opens.

They are drawn to play another English couple at Indonesia ranked 14th in the world.

Earlier at the tournament Shirley and John Gordon lost their men's doubles qualifying match.

- NZPA