BOLTON badminton star Chris Hunt was "surprised and disappointed " after being left out of England's team for the world badminton championships in Seville in May.

And the snub could hasten Hunt's retirement from the international scene.

The world championships were to have been Hunt's swansong in a career which began in 1989 and brought him 86 England appearances as well as two European men's doubles titles and a world No 2 ranking with Olympic bronze medallist Simon Archer along the way.

The 32-year-old, whose doubles partner Julian Robertson was also left out, said: "I'm surprised and disappointed obviously. Julian is absolutely gutted. There are certainly some inconsistencies in the selection process which I am not happy with.

"We are national runners-up and are the only England pair to reach the quarter-finals of a four-star World Grand Prix event since Christmas. Simon and Nathan are the only England pair to have beaten us recently and they aren't a bad pair, are they?"