Badminton: Another English bronze: Louis-Lane imperfect

ENGLAND won bronze for the fourth successive time at the European Championships in 's Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, yesterday, but their 4-1 success over Russia was an improvement on their performance two years ago in Glasgow, writes James Leigh.

Then, they had been within a point of failing to win a medal. Now, they might have won 5-0 had the national champion Suzanne Louis-Lane capitalised upon her match point against Marina Andreivskaya. .

Sweden retained the title with a 3-2 win over Denmark. However, the deciding match was marred by arguments and while Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Jan-Erik Antonsson won the decider against Jim and Henrik Svarrer, Laugesen ended up throwing his racket against a balcony.