Gade fury after late-night All England exit

Former world number one Peter Gade launched a furious attack on world badminton chiefs after making a first round exit at the All England championships in the early hours of Thursday.

The 35-year-old Dane had hoped for a farewell climax at the world's oldest tournament but instead was made to wait for several hours before suffering a 17-21, 21-16, 21-14 defeat to England's Rajiv Ouseph.

It was the first time Gade had ever lost to Ouseph and afterwards he condemned the system imposed upon the tournament by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

“Why are we not in the same league as tennis or golf? Well, this is why,” the former All-England champion fumed, referring to the use of four courts instead of five and the schedule's calculation of only 40 minutes for each match.

“To finish in the first round at 2.30 in the morning in my last All-England is very disappointing,” said Gade, by far the longest lasting top level singles player in the history of the professional game.

“At my age you can be very vulnerable if everything is not right,” he went on. “I have to give everything and everything has to be perfect. This is not what you want at the All-England. “But no matter how crazy it sounds I expected this to happen. When you see they are planning only 35-40 minutes per match -- that's impossible. It tells you everything. It shouldn't be possible to happen.” It left Gade, one of the legends of the game, finishing at the famous tournament with hardly anyone watching and made to depart almost unacknowledged.

Earlier another famous name, Taufik Hidayat, the former world and Olympic champion, also complained about the scheduling imposed on the All-England after suffering a scare in the first round. AFP