Badminton: Hall hard pushed to subdue Haughton

Darren Hall became certain of contesting his ninth successive final at the English National Championships in Norwich yesterday when he won his quarter- final comfortably and then Peter Bush, the man he was due to play in today's semi-finals withdrew with an ankle injury, writes James Leigh. Hall, who hopes to extend his record of men's singles titles to seven, will be fresh for today's final while his opponent, either the second seed Anders Nielsen or the third Peter Knowles, is likely to have had a tough semi-final in the morning.

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