In the final qualifying round of the WSF World Cup in Chennai, Malaysia produced the event’s first upset by beating 4th seeds France to earn a surprise place in the semi-finals in India. 5th seeds Malaysia fell behind when Muhd Asyraf Azan went down 11-4, 11-13, 11-3, 11-0 to top-ranked Frenchman Mathieu Castagnet. But it took world No1 Nicol David just 20 minutes to restore order for the underdogs with her 11-2, 11-3, 11-2 dismissal of Coline Aumard, the French No2 who is ranked 68 places lower in the world. But the star of the Malaysian team was Kamran Khan (pic), the 21-year-old from Kuala Lumpur who was making his senior international debut in the event. Ranked ten places behind French opponent Gregoire Marche, Khan recovered from a heavy defeat in the 4th game to beat the former European Junior champion 5-11, 11-9, 11-3, 2-11, 11-4 in a 71-minute marathon. Semi-finals: 1600: [1] Egypt v [3] Australia; [2] England v [5] Malaysia.
