De la Mare is so Mister Unlucky

GUERNSEY'S Daniel de la Mare was cruelly denied a place in the semi-finals of the WIBA world indoor singles championship at the Bayu Emas stadium in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, when he lost out on shots countback. But, after a succession of fine displays, his fellow-Sarnian, Lianna Bichard, finished second in her group and moved into the semi finals of the women's event.

Opening his bid on Thursday with a win over England star Jamie Chestney, de la Mare, who is 21, was unlucky to be pipped on the third end of a sudden-death tiebreak by the defending champion Barry Kane.

Yesterday, de la Mare went on to beat Scotland's British senior champion Iain McLean, 11-3, 6-9, 2-0 and then subjected hitherto undefeated local hope Hizlee Rais to a convincing straight sets defeat, 9-4, 7-6.

Winning three of his four matches, de la Mare seemed set to qualify for the knockout stage, but Kane and Rais had an identical record and there were only two semi final places available from the five-man group.

It was a bitterly disappointing way to be eliminated, but Rais had a shots credit of plus 28 while Kane was only one shot behind at plus 27, so the Guernseyman, on plus eight, had to be content with third place and dropped out of contention.

'That one shot made all the difference. He must count himself unlucky.'

Bichard, who beat England's Annalisa Bellamy but lost to Welsh star Hannah Smith on Thursday, won both her remaining matches yesterday.

She first beat Malaysia's Shafeeqah Yahya, 8-6, 3-13, 2-0 and then Ireland's Ashley Rainey, 8-4, 8-8.

This morning, she takes on another Malaysian, Fidrah Noh, who topped the other group, while Smith meets yet another local hero, Zuraini Khalid, in the other semi-final.

Bichard's hopes of a place in the final of the mixed pairs event were dashed when she and Chestney were defeated by Malaysia's Zuraini Khalid and Chestney's England teammate Sam Tolchard, from Devon, who won a thrilling contest, 9-5, 6-10, 2-1.