*********** SECOND ROUND ***************** BADMINTON - CHAMPIONS ARBI, YE, KUSUMA AND HOYER-LARSEN WIN November 2, 1995 - At the Hong Kong Open badminton championships, three of the world's best men's singles players cruised their way into the third round of the tournament. 1995 world champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia had an easy victory over Chen Huang of China, 15-2 15-3, while Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, winner of the prestigious All-England earlier this year, had little trouble in defeating Chang Jeng Shyuang of Taiwan, 15-8 15-2. Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist and the winner of the 1995 Malaysian Open, took just 15 minutes to beat Suka Takahiro of Japan, 15-3 15-0 with steeply-angled smashes, deep clears, and delicate dropshots. 1995 women's singles world champion Ye Zhaoying of China also had an easy win over Thailander Somharuthai Jaroensiri, 11-2 11-1. Other second round singles results are: Men's singles Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat Michael Helber (Germany) 5-15 15-3 15-1 6-Fung Permadi (Taiwan) beat Thomas Soegaard (Denmark) 15-5 15-11 Rajeev Bagga (India) beat Jens Olsson (Sweden) 15-12 13-15 15-11 George Rimarodi (Indonesia) beat Gianmarco La Rosa (Italy) 15-4 15-4 5-Lee Kwang-jin (South Korea) beat Teeranun Chiangta (Thailand) 15-4 15-6 Pontus Jantti (Finland) beat Jeroen Van Dijk (Netherlands) 15-6 15-8 Martin Lundgaard Hansen (Denmark) beat Mohammed Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) 15-11 15-11 7-Kim Hak-hyun (South Korea) beat Erik Lia (Norway) 15-7 15-3 Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Huang Sun-ho (South Korea) 15-4 15-4 4-Hermawan Susanto (Indonesia) beat Marek Bujak (Germany) 15-5 15-9 Ahn Jae-chang (South Korea) beat Oliver Pongratz (Germany) 15-11 15-8 Ismail Abdul Saman (Malaysia) beat Zhu Jianwen (China) 15-7 12-15 15-12 Lin Liwen (China) beat Joaquim Lobo (Macau) 15-0 15-2 Women's singles 1-Bang Soo-hyun (South Korea) beat Debra O'Connor (Trinidad) 11-2 11-5 Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand) beat Huang Chai-chi (Taiwan) 11-1 11-12 11-3 6-Camilla Martin (Denmark) beat Koon Wai-chee (Hong Kong) 11-1 11-0 Tang Jienyun (China) beat Margit Borg (Sweden) 11-7 11-4 3-Lim Xiaoqing (Sweden) beat Monique Hoogland (Netherlands) 11-4 11-2 Chan Ya-lin (Taiwan) beat Lisa Campbell (Australia) 11-5 11-12 11-2 8-Lee Joo-hyun (South Korea) beat Kelly Morgan (England) 7-11 11-8 11-0 Yao Yan (China) beat Cindana (Indonesia) 11-2 7-11 11-5 Christine Magnusson (Sweden) beat Lotte Thomsen (Denmark) 11-3 11-6 5-Mia Audina (Indonesia) beat Zeng Yaqiong (China) 11-0 11-4 Takado Ida (Japan) beat Heike Schonharting (Germany) 11-2 11-2 Ra Kyung-min (South Korea) beat Denyse Julien (Canada) 11-5 11-8 Fan Lihua (China) beat Ye Rufei (China) 12-10 11-5 Kim Ji-hyun (South Korea) beat Ng Ching (Hong Kong) 11-1 11-1 Catrine Bengtsson (Sweden) beat Yasuko Mizui (Japan) 11-5 12-10 *************** QUARTER FINALS *************** BADMINTON - HOYER-LARSEN UPSET AT HONG KONG OPEN November 3, 1995 - All-England men's singles titleholder Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark was upset by Korea's Lee Kwangjin in a three- game quarterfinal match. Lee outlasted the exhausted Danish player and took advantage of a string of Hoyer-Larsen errors to win 7-15 15-6 15-11. Hoyer-Larsen was visibly tired during the match with Lee and had apparently not recovered from an extended three-game third-round battle with the up-and-coming Indonesian George Rimarodi. Lee's win puts him in the semifinals against world champion Heryanto Arbi, who had jumpsmashed his way to the semis with a victory over Indonesian-born Fung Permadi of Taiwan, 15-9 15-8. After his quarterfinal victory, Lee said "I think I won (over Hoyer- Larsen) because my stamina was better. I have never beaten Arbi before but I will (also) try to wear him down." Lee was referring to Arbi's lack of training, having been out of action for the past three months due to injury. Arbi commented after his match with Permadi: "I'm not playing to my best form as I have been out of action for three months with an injury but I felt good today." On the other side of the men's singles draw, Olympic champion Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia defeated Korean Ahn Jaechang 15-11 15-11 to claim a place in the semifinals. Kusuma will face Denmark's courageous Martin Lungard Hansen who bested Tomas Johanssen of Sweden, 15-8 11-15 15-13, after being down 0-9 in the deciding third game. "I shall be fighting hard tomorrow against Hansen as I want to play Arbi in the final," Kusuma said. "I played Hansen three years ago and won quite easily so I am very confident." In women's singles, defending champion Bang Soo-hyun of Korea beat Camilla Martin of Denmark 11-4 11-5 to set up a final four match with All-England champion Lim Xiaoqing of Sweden. World champion Ye Zhaoying of China defeated Kim Ji-hyun of Korea 11-3 12-10 and will face Indonesian teenager Mia Audina in the other semifinal. ************** SEMI FINALS ************** AUDINA UPSETS WORLD CHAMPION YE ZHAOYING November 4, 1995 - At the Hong Kong Open badminton championships, Indonesia's teenage prodigy, Mia Audina, scored a major upset when she defeated reigning world women's singles champion Ye Zhaoying of China 8-11 12-10 11-4 in a semifinal match. The world champion took the first game but had an out-of-character error-filled second which allowed the Indonesian teenager to save four match points and sneak past her in a tight game. The loss in the second game seemed to unsettle the world champion and she only managed four points against the 16-year old Audina in the third. "I had never beaten her before but today I played the big points well and was very patient - (I think )those were the keys," said Audina after her victory. Her final opponent will be defending champion Bang Soohyun of South Korea who disposed of All-England titleist Lim Xiaoqing of Sweden 11-5 11-1 in a quick 15 minute match. =END= WORLD AND OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS TO CLASH IN MEN'S SINGLES FINAL November 4, 1995 - World champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia and Olympic gold medalist Allan Budi Kusuma, also of Indonesia, won their respective semifinal matches to set up a battle of champions in the men's singles event of the Hong Kong Open badminton championships. Arbi, seeded first in the event and the defending champion, recovered from a sloppy first game to beat South Korea's Lee Kwang-jin. Arbi had an erratic first game and lost it 5-15. He stormed back with his typical jumpsmash-and-net-kill combinations to defeat the aggressive Korean in the second and third games 15-7 15-6. Arbi showed no sign of the thigh injury which has kept him off the circuit for three months and thrilled the crowd with brilliantly-executed jump smashes. "The direction of the court was switched from the earlier rounds and I took a while to become accustomed to the drift," said Arbi. "I was a bit scared before the competition as this is my first tournament for several months but I have gained in confidence every game." Kusuma, the gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and seeded second in the event, had too great a variety of shots for unseeded Dane Martin Lundgaard Hansen to cope with in the other semifinal as he beat Hansen easily, 15-4 15-3. "I beat Arbi the last time we played, in the semifinal of the Malaysian Open, and I hope to win again tomorrow. We practice together all the time and know each other's game well -- it will be a good attacking final," said Kusuma. *************** FINALS ***************** ARBI WINS BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS November 5 - 1995 world champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia bested Olympic gold medalist Allan Budi Kusuma, also of Indonesia, 13-18 15-13 15-4 in the men's singles finals of the Hong Kong Open badminton championships in come-from-behind fashion. Arbi's victory over his compatriot and practice partner marks a succesful return to competition after a three-month layoff due to a thigh injury and a succesful defense of his Hong Kong Open title. The match between top seed Arbi and Olympic champion Kusuma, seeded second, was very tight with both players knowing each other's game intimately from practicing against each other. Arbi, wearing heavy strapping on his right thigh which he injured three months ago, lost concentration after a disputed line call when leading 13-10 in the first game but forced his way back into the match with his aggressive jumpsmashes and rushes for kill shots at the net. "There were Indonesian fans in the crowd screaming at every point and it put me off at the start because I am not used to that outside of Indonesia," said 22-year-old Arbi, who won his fifth title of the year. "There also was a bad line call near the end of the first game and that affected my cnncentration. I played well to come back in the next two games and I'm pleased to have won here as this is my first tournament for three months because of injury.'' In the women's singles, top seed and defending champion Bang Soohyun of South Korea beat Indonesian teenager Mia Audina in a high quality final 5-11 11-4 11-5. Audina dominated the first game against Bang with fluid play but she started to rush her shots in the second game and the more experienced South Korean took advantage of a series of slack shots to defeat Audina and claim her third championship this year. "Audina started to make mistakes in the second game and that helped me to the win," said Bang. =END= OLYMPIC DOUBLES CHAMPION WINS TITLE IN COMEBACK ATTEMPT November 5 - South Korean Park Joobong, a doubles specialist with few equals, completed a remarkable comeback to top level competition with victory in the mixed doubles with compatriot Shim Eunjung at the Hong Kong Open badminton championships. Park, half of the Olympic men's doubles champion duo of Park and Kim Moonsoo, has been off the circuit for two years and was forced to go through the qualifying rounds for the mixed doubles event here. He has been concentrating on his duties as a lecturer at the Korean National College of Physical Education. He had last played in international competition at the 1993 World Team Championships where he and Kim helped the Korean side retain the Sudirman Cup. Park showed his class throughout the event and in the final was the mainstay as he and Shim carved out a close 15-6 2-15 17-14 victory over the unseeded Chinese combination of Liu Jianjun and new partner Sun Moon. "I am happy to have made a winning comeback - my aim is to win a place in next year's Olympics in Atlanta and this was the best possible start," said the 31-year-old Park. ************************************************************************** reposted from badmnton@login.dknet.dk. oroginally posted by d.shuttlenws@genie.com