Alex Marshall suffers shock loss in first round of Worlds

Alex Marshall MBE's hopes of extending his title triumphs in the World Indoor Singles Championship to a magnificent seven failed at the first hurdle with the 50-year-old No.4 seed making a shock exit in yesterday's first-round play at Potters.

Alex Marshall lost out in the opening round of the Singles

Marshall crashed out in a straight-sets defeat from Andrew Kelly of New Zealand with the Kiwi qualifier winning 6-5 and 10-2.

The first-round play at the Hopton-on-sea venue in Norfolk also saw Marshall’s East Lothian colleague John McCrorie fail to produce his best form on his debut match on Tuesday. The richly-talented Scottish qualifier couldn’t master the carpet and crashed out to an 8-3, 10-2 defeat at the hands of No.5 seed David Gourlay.

• THE resumption of play in the Premier League saw Midlothian celebrate a resounding 96-63 victory at home to Coatbridge in Section A.

With six wins from seven, and with three fixtures to play, Midlothian are away to joint-leaders Blantyre this weekend.

Bainfield lost 82-65 to Blantyre, a defeat that endangers their automatic survival in the top flight. The Capital outift sit two points ahead of second-from-bottom Coatbridge and this Saturday face a challenging away visit to third-placed Lanarkshire while Coatbridge are at home to bottom team Cumbernauld.

East Lothian’s defence of the national title suffered a damaging blow with the Section B leaders taking a tumble on last weekend’s tough away visit to Falkirk.

Falkirk – who lost to EL in last season’s play-off final – helped their own cause with an 88-69 victory that places them just two points adrift of East Lothian and joint leaders West Lothian. WL, who host East Lothian on Saturday week, produced a strong away performance to defeat Ardrossan 76-67.

East Lothian should get back on track this weekend as they entertain Ardrossan while WL have to look lively at home to Elgin. Falkirk should keep the pot boiling with home advantage against Paisley.

Balbardie IBC suffered a 78-69 away defeat at the hands of Abbeyview in Division 1 South. Seven straight defeats and zero points makes the former Premier League outfit favourites to take the plunge into Division 2.

• EAST LOTHIAN ladies made it an undefeated seven-in-a-row in the East Division of the Premier League with a 97-54 win at home to Bainfield.

Their toughest test looms this Saturday in their final fixture away to second-placed Midlothian, who are four points and a massive 103 shots adrift but do have a game in hand.

• EAST LOTHIAN Seniors’ bid to capture the national league title came to an abrupt halt with the winners of the East B section making a 58-53 quarter-final exit at the hands of Alloa on neutral territory at Livingston.