Oh so close for Drinkhall at World Championships

BRITISH No.1 Paul Drinkhall snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in his first major senior outing for Great Britain at the World Championships in Yokohama, Japan.

The 19-year-old, who swept the board at European junior level, raced into a 3-0 lead against Croatia's Zoran Primorac, leaving Drinkhall on the brink of a massive upset over the world number 21.

But inexperience crept into the Brit's performance as Primorac, 39, showed all of his nous to bounce back and level the match at 3-3.

Drinkhall refused to concede however, and managed to force a match point in the deciding game, but Primorac rallied and eventually took the seventh game 13-11 and with it a place in round two.

"Paul played outstandingly well at the start of the match," said Primorac. "He was aggressive, every ball went on the table.

"In the second game I had a chance to level but I made a mistake playing a short ball, Paul got an edge and I was 2-0 down, I was very disappointed at that stage but eventually experience saw me home.

"In the first three games Paul had played at a very, very high level; I felt he couldn't keep that level throughout the match; I think in the last four games his level went down slightly and mine remained the same."

There was more heart-ache for England as Kelly Sibley also bowed out in seven sets to the Czech Republic's Renata Strbikova.

The 20-year-old took led three times in the match at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, but once Strbikova levelled the match a 3-3, she gained the upper hand and took the decider 11-7.