Morgan's Olympic dreams dashed

Kelly Morgan lost out to World Champion Camilla Martin of Denmark

Wales' badminton medal-hope Kelly Morgan has crashed out of the women's singles in Sydney at the last 16 stage.

The Commonwealth Gold-medallist lost in straight sets to World Champion Camilla Martin of Denmark, 11-7, 11-3.

Martin, the second seed in the tournament, looked comfortable as she ended Morgan's hopes of adding to the gold medal she won in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

After winning a well-contested first set, Martin showed some of her World Championship-winning form in taking the second set comfortably.

Morgan had conceded the first set in her previous match against Wai Chee Louisa Koon but produced a battling comeback to win 8-11, 11-3, 11-1.

Some of the calls were really close. I wouldn't have liked to be a line judge out there

  Kelly Morgan

She could not command such a performance against Martin, however, and left herself with too much ground to recover after the first set.

Near misses

Morgan was disappointed to lose but felt the scoreline did not reflect how tough a match it had been for both players.

"It was pretty even in the first set until about 6-6 then she got away a bit," Morgan said. "I made a few mistakes in the end to give her the first set."

The second set was decided by centimetres only, with Morgan on the wrong end of some close line calls.

"In the second set she was just hitting the line when I was leaving shots or hitting them long," Morgan said.

The rallies were good but the score didn't reflect how tough a match it was

  Kelly Morgan

"The rallies were good but the score didn't reflect how tough a match it was.

"Some of the calls were really close. I wouldn't have liked to be a line judge out there."

Morgan will not dwell on her Sydney defeat, however, choosing instead to look ahead to Athens 2004.

"I was just missing shots by centimetres and I am playing better than I did in Atlanta. Hopefully in another four years I'll be playing better still," she said.

Richard Vaughan

There was better news, however, for Wales' Richard Vaughan, who was in action in the men's singles second round in Sydney.

He reached the last 16 of the men's singles by beating Rasmus Wenberg of Sweden.

The Welshman from Llanbradach fought back from an early 8-6 deficit in the opening game and cruised to victory in 26 minutes, winning 15-8 15-4.

Vaughan reached the second round after beating Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 15-8 15-12 in the first round.