ARBI TARGETS BADMINTON GRAND PRIX FINALS CROWN Singapore, November 27 - Current world men's singles champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia has winning the International Badminton Federation (IBF) World Grand Prix finals as his target this week. "I came here to win the finals," Arbi said after his arrival in Singapore on Monday. The World Grand Prix finals, being held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from November 29 to December 3, is the last major tournament of year for badminton with only the top performers from the various Grand Prix tournaments qualifying to participate. This year's finals boasts prize money of US$325,000, the highest in the sport's history. The world champion indicated that he was in excellent form and condition after training hard for the Grand Prix finals as well as the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games scheduled for Chiangmai, Thailand, from December 9-17. When asked as to which player he thought would give him the toughest opposition, Arbi said he expected very stiff competition from all the other Grand Prix contestants. "The players are (all) equally strong," stated Arbi. Another Indonesian, Allan Budi Kusuma, the 1992 Olympic men's singles gold medalist also indicated that he had been training hard for the Grand Prix finals and the SEA Games. "I will try hard to win the title," the Olympic champion said. Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, the 1995 men's singles winner of the prestigious All-England championships, badminton's equivalent of Wimbledon, said that he regarded himself as an underdog and considered world champion Heryanto Arbi the favourite for the men's singles title. At the age of 30, Hoyer-Larsen is one of the tournament's oldest players. However, the Danish native thinks he still has two more good competitive playing years ahead of him. "My improvement has been gradual and I hope to maintain that improvement for the next one to two years,"Hoyer-Larsen said. "I am aiming for the Olympic title. Look at (Olympic sprint champion) Linford Cristie - he is still improving at 35 years old." Chinese champion Dong Jiong expressed his hopes for a good showing at the Grand Prix finals and said that his game had improved recently by switching from his usual attacking game to a more defensive one at the middle and back parts of the court and by being more aggressive at the net. The men's singles event starts Wednesday with round-robin competition in four groups. Arbi is in Group A with South Korean Lee Kwangjin, Malaysian Rashid Sidek and Swede Jens Olsson. Kusuma is in Group B with fellow Indonesian Ardy Wiranata, the Taiwanese Fung Permadi, a former Indonesian internationalist, and the Dane Peter Rasmussen. The other two groups are headed by Indonesian Joko Suprianto and Dong Jiong (Group C) and Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen (Group D). =END= SUSANTI AND BANG OUT OF GRAND PRIX FINALS Singapore, November 27 - Two of the world's top-ranked women's singles players, Susi Susanti of Indonesia and Bang Soohyun of Korea will not be in action at the World Grand Prix finals of badminton being held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from November 29 to December 3. Susi Susanti, last year's winner, will not be defending her crown due to injury, an Indonesian badminton official said. "She is still recovering from a leg muscle injury sustained during the China Open two weeks ago," the official said from Jakarta. "She is doing light training and we hope she will be fit enough to compete in the SEA Games (December 9-17 in Thailand)." Bang declined to attend the Grand Prix finals but her reason for declining was not given. The absence of these two top women's singles players leaves the door open for world champion Ye Zhaoying of China, All-England winner Lim Xiaoqing of Sweden and Indonesia's Uber Cup heroine Mia Audina to bag the title. Audina, the youngest women's player in this week's Grand Prix Finals, said she believed she had a good chance of winning her first international badminton title. "I hope to win my first title at the Grand Prix Finals," said the Indonesian 16-year-old. Audina said she expected tough competition from Lim Xiaoqing and Ye Zhaoying of China. =END= SUBAGJA AND MAINAKY PULL OUT OF GRAND PRIX FINALS Singapore, November 29 - The men's doubles world champion pair from Indonesia, Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, have withdrawn from the World Grand Prix Finals of badminton being held in Singapore from November 29 to December 3. Subagja had been nursing a back injury which worsened during a practice session on Tuesday. Subagja and Mainaky were strong favourites to win the Grand Prix Finals men's doubles crown for a third time. With their withdrawal, the Danish pair of Thomas Lund and Jon Holst- Christensen, runners-up at the world championships, move up in the seedings in place of Subagja and Mainaky. Alternates Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her of Malaysia were called up to fill up the vacancy caused by the pull out of the top Indonesian pair. =END= MALAYSIAN UPSETS HOYER-LARSEN Singapore, November 29 - The 1995 All-England badminton men's singles champion, Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen of Denmark, was upset in straight sets by Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia in the first match of the World Grand Prix Finals on Wednesday. Ong, ranked 15th in the Grand Prix list and seeded last in Group D, defeated Group D top-seed Hoyer-Larsen comfortably 15-8 15-8. In Group A, another Malaysian, Rashid Sidek, also scored an upset, beating the group second-seed, South Korean Lee Kwangjin 15-11 15-7. Indonesian men's singles standouts Heryanto Arbi, Joko Suprianto, Allan Budi Kusuma, Ardy Wiranata and Hendrawan won their opening matches. Suprianto casually eliminated Tan Sian Peng of Singapore, 15-4 15-5, while Arbi disposed of Sweden's Jens Olsson 15-6 15-7. Wiranata had a battle on his hands in the first game against former teammate Fung Permadi who now plays for Taiwan, but managed to pull win at 15-11. He had easier time in the second, winning at 15-4. Kusuma, the 1992 Olympic Games gold medalist, defeated Peter Rasmussen of Denmark 15-6 15-12, and, in an all-Indonesian matchup, Hendrawan upset Hermawan Susanto 15-9 15-4. Susanto is ranked fourth in the world in men's singles. Dong Jiong of China duplicated his dominance over Dutchman Jeroen van Dijk, defeating him 15-8 15-7. =END= WORLD CHAMPION ARBI UPSET Singapore, November 30 - Rashid Sidek of Malaysia scored a major upset when he defeated the reigning men's singles world champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia at the World Grand Prix Finals of badminton. In a match during the second day of the round-robin phase of the tournament, the attack-oriented Arbi and the defensive-minded Sidek engaged in a mistake-filled but tight contest. In the end, Sidek who made fewer errors took the victory 18-17 15-12. In another men's singles match, Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia, the U.S. Open champion, overcame a first game loss to beat Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia 4-15 15-6 15-6. Ong who had previously upset All-England champion Poul-Erik Hoyer- Larsen of Denmark seemed to be on his way to a second upset when he allowed Susanto to score only 4 points and won the first game in less than 10 minutes. Exhibiting lightning-quick reflexes and powerful jump smashes, Ong won a majority of the rallies in the first game as Susanto committed numerous unforced errors. Behind 0-3 in the second game, Susanto settled down and began to come back as Ong tired. The Indonesian eventually won the second and third games comfortably to clinch the victory. Susanto, a first match upset loser to compatriot Hendrawan, said after the match with Ong: "I started off badly because I could not get used to the strong drift. All my attacking clears seemed to go wide. But once I got adjusted to the conditions, I knew that I would come back and win it." 1992 Olympic gold medalist Allan Budi Kusuma also had to come from behind to beat Fung Permadi of Taiwan 8-15 15-11 15-6. Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, the 1995 All England champion and first match upset loser to Ong Ewe Hock, recovered some lost pride and stayed in contention for the semifinals when he defeated Hendrawan of Indonesia 15-10 15-7. Hoyer-Larsen must win over Hermawan Susanto in his next match and hope that Hendrawan beats Ong in order for him to get to the next stage of the World Grand Prix Finals. The 1993 world champion Joko Suprianto of Indonesia easily defeated Jeroen van Dijk of the Netherlands 15-2 15-6, while the 1992 Olympic silver medallist Ardy Wiranata, also of Indonesia, beat Peter Rasmussen of Denmark 17-14 15-3. =END= ARBI, HOYER-LARSEN, KUSUMA AND AUDINA BOW OUT Singapore, December 1 - Four favourites in the singles competition at the World Grand Prix Finals of badminton being held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium this week made their exits out of the tournament today. Despite his win today over Korean Lee Kwangjin 15-7 4-15 15-10 , the current world men's singles champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia, an upset loser to Rashid Sidek of Malaysia yesterday, ended up in second place in Group A and out of the tournament as Sidek continued his winning streak and qualified for the semifinals by defeating Jens Olsson of Sweden 15-8 15-5. In his match against the taller Swede, Sidek initially had problems gauging Olsson's court coverage and trailed early 1-5 in the first game. Sidek was then able to adjust his tactics to Olsson's style and played a controlled game, moving Olsson all over the court and running the Swedish player into the ground. After clinching his place in the semifinals, Sidek said "I have trained very hard in the last few months. Also, I am mentally much stronger now." "This is definitely my best form of the year", Sidek added. When asked about his chances in the semifinals, Sidek said "I did not know I had it inside of me to defeat Arbi and having beaten him, my chances are as good as anyone in the semifinals". Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, the 1995 All-England men's singles champion and an upset loser to Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia on Wednesday, still had a chance to qualify for the semifinals but needed both a win over Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia and a defeat of Ong by Hendrawan of Indonesia to make it through in Group D. His hopes were dashed early as Hendrawan was unable to take to the court for his match against Ong due to an ankle injury. Despite this setback, the Danish player played a superb match against Susanto, reminiscent of their 1995 All-England semifinal and 1995 world championship quarterfinal battle royales. The left-handed Hoyer-Larsen and the right-handed Susanto fought spiritedly for each point in a forty-five minute display of similiar mixes of power, speed, guile and and deception with the Dane winning the first game 18-16, then Susanto the second 8-15 before Hoyer-Larsen pulled off the win with an unanswered string of points in the third 15-10. "I was greatly disappointed when I learned that Hendrawan had to pull out. Although I had nothing to play for, I gave it my best (against Susanto). That's life, I guess," Hoyer-Larsen said after the match. A third favourite in men's singles, Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist, was turned away from a semifinal berth by compatriot Ardy Wiranata, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, in a long and tightly contested Group B match. The defensive style of Wiranata wore out Kusuma and allowed Wiranata to claim a spot in the semifinals with an 11-15 15-8 15-12 victory. In Group C, the favourite, Joko Suprianto of Indonesia and Chinese ace Dong Jiong struggled for the group leadership amd a semifinal place with Suprianto coming out on top 15-8 14-17 15-9. The suprising performance of Malaysian stalwarts Rashid Sidek and Ong Ewe Hock results in men's singles semifinal matchups between badminton archrivals Malaysia and Indonesia that will certainly evoke memories of the 1992 and 1994 Thomas Cup finals among their supporters. Sidek will face Ardy Wiranata in one semifinal while Ong will meet Joko Suprianto in the other. In women's singles, one of the favourites, the 16-year old Mia Audina of Indonesia, was leading in her Group A match against a rival from her junior-playing days, Wang Chen of China when she had to retire from her match due to a leg injury. Audina had won a tight first game 12-11 and was at match point 10-8 in the second setto when injury struck the Indonesian, forcing her to concede the match and a place in the semifinals to Wang. Audina had been so confident and hopeful at the start of the tournament and had expressed her aspiration of winning her first international tournament specially after the first and second ranked players in the world, Susi Susanti of Indonesia and Bang Soohyun of Korea, had withdrawn from the tournament before it started. Wang Chen will face Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden, who qualified out of Group B with a win over Han Jingna of China 11-1 12-9. Lim, the 1995 All-England women's singles champion, is a former Chinese national team player who has moved to Sweden. The other women's singles semifinal will match the world champion, Ye Zhaoying of China, against Camilla Martin of Denmark. Ye made her way to the semifinals out of Group D with a victory over Indonesian newcomer Lidya Djaelawidjaya 11-9 11-3, while Martin defeated Zhang Nin of China 11-8 11-8 to qualify out of Group C. Other singles results are: Fung Permadi of Taiwan over Peter Rasmussen of Denmark 15-10 15-1 Jeroen van Dijk of the Netherlands over Tan Sian Peng of Singapore 18-14 15-11 =END= GOODE'S OLYMPIC STRATEGY GOOD FOR ENGLAND Singapore, December 1 - Earlier this year, Andy Goode, the Olympic badminton team mamager for England, decided to concentrate the English effort on the doubles events in order to maximize their chances for an Olympic medal. The approach seems to be paying off as three English entries qualified for the semifinals at the World Grand Prix Finals of badminton, only one less than the Asian badminton powerhouses China, Malaysia and Indonesia who each have four entries in the semifinals, and better than Denmark or Korea who each qualified two. In fact, in the English specialty of mixed doubles, the English are certain of an entry in the finals since one of the semifinals in this event is an all-English affair between the 1994 All-England champions, Nick Ponting and Joanne Wright, on one hand, and Simon Archer and Julie Bradbury on the other. If this had been the Olympics, this would have meant a certain silver medal for England and a possible gold. The third English entry to make it through to the semifinals is the women's doubles team of Julie Bradbury and Joanne Wright who earlier this year won the always tough Malaysian Open in neighboring Kuala Lumpur. Bradbury and Wright will meet the world champions from Korea, Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock, in their semifinal. The other semifinal matchups are: Men's singles - Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia versus Joko Suprianto of Indonesia Rashid Sidek of Malaysia versus Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia Women's singles - Camilla Martin of Denmark versus Ye Zhaoying of China Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden versus Wang Chen of China Men's doubles - Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia versus Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her of Malaysia Rudy Gunawan and Bambang Suprianto of Indonesia versus Jon Holst-Christensen and Thomas Lund of Denmark Women's doubles - Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China versus Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu of China Mixed doubles - Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia versus Kim Dongmoon and Gil Youngah of Korea INDONESIANS TURN BACK MALAYSIAN SINGLES CHALLENGE Singapore, December 2 - Indonesian men's singles stalwarts Joko Suprianto and Ardy Wiranata defeated their Malaysian opponents in the semifinal matches of the World Grand Prix Finals of badminton at the Singapore Indoor Stadium earlier today. Suprianto, winner of the world championship in 1993, combined touch, power, deception and better fitness to defeat the never-say-die Ong Ewe Hock 15-8 15-11. In the first game, both players exchanged mixtures of dropshots, clears, smashes and net tumblers in extended rallies including at least one 80-plus shot skirmish. Suprianto controlled most of the rallies with delicate drops, deep attacking clears and jumpsmashes with Ong scurrying around his end of the court, retrieving the Indonesian's shots. The two semifinalists played evenly to 5-5 when Ong seemed to tire and started to net his shots. Suprianto then started to pull away and won the game at 15-8 when Ong's crosscourt jumpsmash hit the floor just past the sideline. The second game was similar to the first with Suprianto dictating the pace and Ong retrieving and returning shots and at times even diving to the floor to dig out a Suprianto smash or deceptive drop. In the other Indonesian-Malaysian encounter, Ardy Wiranata had to come from behind in the first game to defeat Rashid Sidek 18-17. Wiranata was trailing Sidek 8-12 when he adjusted his game to a more attacking style, combining explosive jumpsmashes with delicate netshots. After some fast and furious exchanges, Wiranata caught up to Sidek at 13-all. Sidek then chose to set the game at 5 with the first player to reach 18 points winning the game. Sidek got to game point (17) quickly but Wiranata clawed his way back with excellent smashing and netplay to tie at 17-all. With Wiranata serving at game point, Sidek went back to hit a deep clear to the corner. However, his shot was wide and the game went to Wiranata. In the second game, Sidek appeared to be demoralized and exhausted from his futile first game efforts. Wiranata was in control for most of the second game and won it 15-7. Wiranata will meet compatriot Joko Suprianto for the World Grand Prix men's singles title tomorrow with either Indonesian capable of beating the other on any given day. However, Suprianto claims to have the edge playing in Singapore. "The Singapore Indoor Stadium is a happy hunting ground for me. I won the Singapore Open here earlier this year and in 1993 I won the individual gold medal here. I hope that I will be lucky for a third time in tomorrow's final match," he said. In women's singles action, Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden bested the young Wang Chen from China 11-6 11-2 in 25 minutes. Wang, the world junior champion, could only keep pace with the experienced Lim in the first few points of the first game and was left behind when the Chinese-Swedish player turned her attcking game on at 5-all. In the other women's singles semifinal, world champion Ye Zhaoying of China proved to be too much for Camilla Martin of Denmark, defeating the Dane 11-1 11-2 in a quick match. In an exciting men's doubles semifinal, Rudy Gunawan and Bambang Suprianto of Indonesia prevailed over Jon Holst-Christensen and Thomas Lund of Denmark in the first game 15-9. In the second game, the Danes fought for every point and kept turning back the heavy Indonesian jumpsmash attacks before succumbing in a three-point setting 15-17. The other men's doubles semifinal featured a matchup between 4 former partners from Malaysia, Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock versus Soo Beng Kiang and Tan Kim Her. Soo and Tan, who were last-minute replacements in the tournament for the injured Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia and who were unexpected semifinalists, had no counter to Cheah's powerful smashes and Yap's quickness at the net as Cheah and Yap steamrolled to victory 15-3 15-2. Other semifinal results were: Women's doubles - Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China beat Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu of China 15-7 15-9 Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock of Korea beat Julie Bradbury and Joanne Wright of England 15-6 15-8 Mixed doubles - Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia beat Kim Dongmoon and Gil Youngah of Korea 15-3 15-4 Simon Archer and Julie Bradbury of England beat Nick Ponting and Joanne Wright of England 15-13 15-9 =END= MALAYSIANS CHEAH AND YAP DOWM INDONESIANS IN DOUBLES FINAL Singapore, December 3 - The recently formed Malaysian men's doubles team of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock scored the biggest win of their young parnership when they defeated the Indonesian pair of Rudy Gunawan and Bambang Suprianto to take the World Grand Prix Finals title in the men's doubles. In a very exciting and emotional matchup of players from archrival countries Malaysia and Indonesia, the combination of power jumpsmashing from Cheah and finesse net shotmaking from the diminutive Yap plus exceptional defending overcame the renowned heavy smash attack of Gunawan and Suprianto. The Malaysians dropped a tightly contested first game 13-18 but came back with inspired play in the second, winning at 15-2. The third game was more tightly contested with both pairs wowing the crowd with jumpsmash attacks and reversals of attack. In the end, the Malaysians were more cohesive in their play to win the championship 15-12. The Cheah and Yap tandem was formed earlier this year when the Badminton Association of Malaysia realigned their top doubles pairs. The veteran Cheah Soon Kit - Soo Beng Kiang and the young Yap Kim Hock - Tan Kim Her duos were split up and each of the veterans was paired with one of the younger players, Cheah with Yap and Soo with Tan. The wisdom of the Malaysian move has borne fruit quickly with Cheah and Yap winning the Grand Prix championships and Soo and Tan making the semifinals. In another exciting championship match, world women's singles champion Ye Zhaoying of China and Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden battled for the ladies' crown and a purse of US$16,250. Ye won a very tightly contested first game 12-10 with her deceptive ovrehead shots prevaling over Lim's lefthanded guile and power. Ye pulled away to an early 7-0 lead in the second game but the spirited Lim found her touch and control and fought back to an 8-all score. Lim then won the second 11-8 as Ye wilted. In the third and deciding setto, Ye again pulled away 8-4 as an impatient Lim went on an error-filled attacking game, smashing wide several times to give Ye crucial points. Lim then settled down and played a more patient game to tie at 8-all but the effort proved too much for the Chinese-turned-Swede as Ye scored the next three points to win the women's singles title 11-8. "It was a very difficult match that could have gone either way", Ye said after the match. "I fought for every point. Lim made some mistakes and I took advantage of them." The winner of the world championship, World Cup and now the World Grand Prix Finals added "It is a good way to end 1995." Ye, who did not qualify to play in the 1992 Olympics due to some controversial maneuvering at the end of the qualification process, is now looking forward to playing well at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. In an all-Indonesian men's singles final, Joko Suprianto and Ardy Wiranata exchanged halfhearted wins in the first two games before battling it out for the title and the US$21,000 purse in the third game. Suprianto easily won the first 15-3 while Wiranata took the second 15-6. The two players stepped up the pace and the effort in the third game. Wiranata rushed off to a quick 6-1 lead on spirited all- court play. Suprianto then started to play less predictably as he switched back and forth from slow clearing rallies to very fast smash and drive exchanges. Suprianto scored several times on very cleverly disguised cross- court drop shots that had Wiranata leaning the wrong way. Suprianto's tactics worked well for him as he caught up to Wiranata at 6-all and then passed him to win 15-6. Explaining his tactics after the match, Suprianto said "I varied the pattern of my game in the rubber to conserve my stamina." In the women's doubles, Ge Fei and Gu Jun made up for their disappointment at the world championships earlier this year by defeating the world champions Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock of South Korea 15-7 15-12. At the world championships, the then top-seeded Ge Fei and Gu Jun were knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock. In mixed doubles, Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia took advantage of the absence of two of the world's top mixed doubles exponents, Thomas Lund of Denmark and Park Joobong of Korea, to claim the title. Heryanto and Timur defeated Simon Archer and Julie Bradbury of England 15-8 15-8 in the event final. Lund, the mixed doubles world champion with Marlene Thomsen, has temporarily given up mixed doubles to concentrate on the men's doubles event, while Park, an Olympic men's doubles gold medalist and a former world champion in men's and mixed doubles, had not played enough tournaments this year to qualify for the World Grand Prix Finals. =END= *********************************************************************** as posted to badmnton@login.dknet.dk by d.shuttlenws@genie.com