FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 24, 1996

DENMARK DOMINATES THOMAS AND UBER CUP EUROPEAN BADMINTON
PRELIMINARIES 
  
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.)  -- The Danish men's Thomas Cup and
women's Uber Cup badminton teams steamrolled through the Thomas
and Uber Cup world team qualifying finals on Saturday (Prague,
Czech Republic, February 17-24), inflicting crushing defeats on
Sweden 4-1, and Russia 5-0 respectively.

In the men's Thomas Cup third place playoff, England defeated the
Netherlands 3-2, while the English women defeated Sweden 3-2 to
clinch the final European spot for the Uber Cup.

The Thomas and Uber Cups are the world team badminton
championships for men and women, respectively, held every even
year.  The top three Thomas Cup (Denmark, Sweden, England) and 
Uber Cup (Denmark, Russia, and England) teams will advance to
take on the three qualifiers from the Asian Preliminaries
(Auckland, New Zealand, Feb. 18-25) at the Thomas and Uber Cup
Finals in Hong Kong (May 17-26).

Final Results - 1996 Men's Thomas Cup Preliminaries

Championship: Denmark def. Sweden 4-1

Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen (DEN) def. Jens Olsen (SWE) 15-12, 15-10

Peter Rasmussen (DEN) def. Thomas Johansson (SWE) 15-4, 15-5

Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (DEN) def. Rikard Magnusson 8-15, 17-14,
15-10

Par-Gunnar Jonsson/Peter Axelsson (SWE) def. Henrik
Svarrer/Michael Soggard (DEN) 15-6, 15-7

Jim Laugesen/Thomas Stavgaard (DEN) def. Henrik Andersson/Johan
Tholinsson (SWE) 18-14, 15-12  

Third Place Playoff: England def. Netherlands 3-2

Darren Hall (ENG) def. Jeroen van Dijk (NED) 15-12, 15-6

Peter Knowles (ENG) def. Pierre Pelupessy (NED) 15-6, 15-3

Chris Bruil (NED) def. Peter Bush (ENG) 15-6, 15-3

Chris Hunt/Nick Pointing (ENG) def. Rolf Monteiro/Gerben
Bruystens (NED) 15-10, 15-0

Ron Michels/Quinten van Dalm (NED) def. Simon Archer/Julien
Robertson 15-10, 18-16

*Denmark, Sweden, and England advance to Thomas Cup Finals


Final Results - 1996 Women's Uber Cup Preliminaries

Championship: Denmark def. Russia 5-0

Camilla Martin (DEN) def. Elena Suchareva (RUS) 11-2, 11-5

Anne Sondergaard (DEN) def. Natalia Gorodnicheva (RUS) 11-6, 11-6

Mette Pedersen (DEN) def. Elia Karachova (RUS) 11-5, 11-3

Rikke Olsen/Helen Kirkegaard (DEN) def. Nadejda Chervjakova/Ella
Karachkova (RUS) 15-5, 15-4

Ann Jorgensen/Lotte Olsen (DEN) def. Elna Suchareva/Natalia
Gorodnicheva (RUS) 15-1, 15-2  

Third Place Playoff: England def. Sweden 3-2

Jo Muggeridge (ENG) def. Catrine Bengtsson (SWE) 11-7, 11-6

Christine Mangnusson (DEN) def. Julie Mann (ENG) 11-4, 11-8

Alison Humbly (ENG) def. Margit Borg (SWE) 11-4, 11-3

Muggeridge/Julie Bradbury (ENG) def. Maria Bengtsson/Borg (SWE)
15-4, 15-10

Magnusson/Catrine Bengtsson (SWE) def. Nicola Beck/Joanne Davies
(ENG) 15-10, 15-7

*Denmark, Sweden, and England advance to Thomas Cup Finals 

### 

(FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAUL PAWLACZYK, USBA
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, AT 719-578-4808, OR THE USBA HOME PAGE
AT http://mid1.external.hp.com/stanb/usba/usba.html).