Earlier, Gopi Chand was swept off the court by Wong Choon Hann of Malaysia, who was in an incredibly good form, winning easily 15-1, 15-11. The Malaysian will play his teammate and second seed Yong Hock Kin, who after the exit of Ong Ewe Hock became the favourite. Yong Hock beat Daren Hall of England 15-7, 15-1.

India thus ended a fairly good badminton outing with two silver -- through Aparna Popat and men's team -- and two bronze -- through Gopi Chand and women's team. The semi-final defeat for Gopi Chand was his only loss in the entire Games, the team event inclusive, while Popat lose only two matches, both to Kelly Morgan.

Despite the apparentlygood results, Aparna obviously has some way to go before achieving more consistency in her play. Till then there will always be some amount of unpredictability about her results. The 20-year-old had staged a remarkable rally from 3-10 and saved five match points enroute to a fine victory in the semi-final against Julia Mann of England. But even there she had played erratically.

Morgan, who defeated Popat in the team event, had not dropped a game on way to the final and conceded just 23 points in the first five games. Kelly Morgan ran up an early 4-0 lead that swelled to 9-4 and 10-5 before the Indian girl began her attempts at another fightback.

From that difficult position she clawed her way back as has become her style in this tournament. She came up to 9-10 and then 10-all. But this time Kelly Morgan, at least, was not going to allow Aparna to do the Houdini Act once again. She gathered composure, outduelled the Indian at the net and placed deftly to run out 13-10 winner.

In the second game, Aparnawas dismissed 11-5 and to be left with a silver and with that there ended India's challenge in badminton. Coach Prakash Padukone, while being happy with two silver and two bronze medals, probably has a major task to hand trying to overcome Aparna's tendency to have wild swings in form during the match.

Gopi Chand, who had beaten Wong in the Austrian Open last year, was totally out of depth in the first game, as the Malaysian smashed at will. His half-court smashes and steep drops from the back court had Gopi groping. In next to no time, the Malaysian was a game up at 15-1.

In the next game, Gopi was slightly better till 4-7 before the Malaysian once again ran way to win 15-11 and complete the win much to the delight of the crowd. The exit left Gopi with a bronze medal to go with the silver he got from the team event.

Results

MEN: Singles (semi-finals): Wong Choon Hann (Malaysia) bt Gopi Chand Pullela (India) 15-1 15-11; Yong Hock Kin (Malaysia) bt Darren Hall (England) 15-715-1.

WOMEN: Singles (final): Kelly Morgan (Wales) bt Aparna Popat (India) 13-10 11-5. Bronze medals: Tracey Hall (England) and Julia Mann (England).

MIXED DOUBLES (final): Simon Archer/ Joanne Goode (England) bt Nathan Robertson/Joanne Davies (England) 15-2 15-5. Bronze medals: Rhona Cator/Peter Blackburn (Australia) and Donna Kellogg/ Christopher Hunt (England).