Badminton: NZ's Bellingham wins second round match at worlds

New Zealand badminton No 2 Rebecca Bellingham won her second round singles match to reach the last 16 at the world championships in Los Angeles today.

The Aucklander, 27, beat Aparna Popat of India 9-11 11-8 11-9 in an hour-long match.

Bellingham, ranked 35th in the world, has a tough third round opponent -- seventh seed Tracey Hallam of England.

The news wasn't so good for her New Zealand teammates Geoff Bellingham and John Moody yesterday.

Both were eliminated in the men's round of 64, Geoff Bellingham going down 1-15 5-15 to 10th seeded Malaysian Choong Hann Wong, while Moody bowed out 12-15 4-15 to the ninth seed, Ng Wei, of Hong Kong.

- NZPA