England's Hallam breaks singles jinx

MELBOURNE, Mar 26 (Reuters) England's Tracey Hallam finally broke her Commonwealth Games singles jinx by storming to gold in the women's badminton final today.

Top seed Hallam beat Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong 21-12 21-15 to add gold to her collection after taking silver in Manchester four years ago and the bronze at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games.

''It was tough. I did doubt myself,'' Hallam, who celebrated her 31st birthday on Friday, told reporters. ''It's nice to have gold after silver in Manchester and bronze in KL.'' Scotland's Susan Hughes took bronze after a close tussle with Jersey's Elizabeth Cann in Saturday's third-place match.

World number two Chong Wei Lee overpowered fellow Malaysian Choong Hann Wong 21-13 21-12 to win gold in the men's singles to underline his dominance against his domestic rivals.

''I enjoyed that,'' said the 21-year-old from Penang, who has not lost in Malaysia for three years. ''Perhaps Choong Hann found it a little difficult as he's older than me.'' India's Chetan Anand finished with bronze after beating England's Aamir Ghaffar yesterday.

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