British pair miss chances

Student Games

ROB DORSETT

reports from Fukuoka, Japan

Great Britain were again frustrated yesterday by the golden duck that has so far denied them a World champion in 1995. The day after Nick Adams and Richard Holden narrowly missed out on the men's tennis gold medal, Sam Smith and Paul Robinson repeated the feat in the mixed doubles final in what was, if anything, an even closer match.

It was never going to be easy for Smith and Robinson, as they came up against the top seeds from Taiwan, Chen Chih-Jung and Wang Shi-Ting. It was even more difficult psychologically, because Wang, ranked No 50 in the world, had knocked Smith out of the women's singles in the quarter- finals.

The opening set of the final was claimed by the No 1 seeds in the tie- break, but should have been won earlier by the British pair after breaking Chen's serve in the third game. They were to rue the missed opportunity. Chen's early lapse on serve was to prove an isolated one, as he won his next four service games for the loss of only two points. The pair from Taiwan were rarely tested again and progressed to a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory, and the gold medal.

In the second day of the track and field competition, Tosi Fasinro, Britain's defending triple jump champion, travelled 16.56m in his final jump - a distance good enough for equal fourth place - but was placed fifth on countback. The man to take Fasinro's crown was Andrei Kourennoi, of Russia, with a fourth-round jump of 17.30m.