Ouseph defeats seed at World Champs

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Rajiv Ouseph came from behind to knock out 16th seed Chong Wei Feng in an epic tussle in the first round of the Badminton World Championships.

The Hounslow star had been beaten by the world number 19 in the mixed team final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month.

However, Ouseph – ranked three places below Chong – avenged that defeat on Tuesday to progress to the second round in Copenhagen.

Malaysian Chong edged the first game 21-17 and then raced into a 12-6 lead in the second.

Ouseph worked his way back to level at 18-18 and survived a match point to take it to 20-20.

Amid rising tension, Chong had two more chances to take the match but Ouseph saved both to level at 22-22 – and then won two points in a row to force a decider.

Chong again made the better start in the third game to lead 10-6 before Ouseph won seven out of the next eight points to establish a narrow lead.

Chong quickly wiped it out at 13-13 but the Englishman went on to find another gear, allowing the seed only three more points as he took the match 17-21, 24-22, 21-16 in 65 minutes.

Ouseph will play world number 23 K. Srikanth of India in the second round on Wednesday.

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