HONG KONG OPEN: YONG, HOYER OUT

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November 26, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Yong Hock Kin of Malaysia and Poul-Erik Hoyer of Denmark, the second and third seeds in the men's singles event at the Hong Kong Open badminton championships dropped out of the competition yesterday for different reasons. Yong was eliminated in the first round by Rony Agustinus of Indonesia, while Hoyer was bothered by a strained back and was forced to withdraw.

Yong had a lacklustre start against Agustinus and lost the first game to the Indonesian youngster 5-15. His game picked up in the second and third. Yong took the second stanza 15-10 and was in control in the decider at 14-12. But the second seed could not finish Agustinus off. The Indonesian fought off match point and outsteadied Yong to force a tiebreak at 14-all.

Agustinus continued to play well in the setting and held a match point on Yong. The Malaysian fought back to tie the score at 16-all and hold a match point of his own. Yong however was again unable to finish the Indonesian off and surrendered the service to Agustinus. The young Indonesian then took the game and the match 17-16.

Hoyer was unable to take to play yesterday due to a back injury that he sustained in Beijing during the friendly team tie between China and Denmark. Hoyer slipped during his match against Sun Jun on Sunday and hurt his back. The injury was still hurting the Danish ace yesterday morning and he decided to pull out of the tournament.

Unluckily for Hoyer, his opponent in the first round, Tam Kai Chuen of Hong Kong, also pulled out. Tam had a bad case of the flu. The double withdrawal gave Indonesian Johan Hadi Kusuma a free ride into the third round.

Top seed Peter Gade of Denmark won his first and second round matches. He opened up his Hong Kong Open campaign by beating Nunung Subandoro of Indonesia 15-12 and 15-7, and then survived a battle with Xia Xuanze of China, winning the match 17-14 and 15-13.

Men's singles fourth seed Chen Gang of China also won his first and second round matches. He beat Lee Mie-Chow of Taiwan and Lei Keng Chon of Macau. However, Chen twisted a knee during yesterday's play and may not be in top form for today's match against the tenth-seeded Indra Wijaya of Indonesia.

Men's singles world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark survived a tough first round match against 1992 Olympic silver medalist Ardy Wiranata, the Indonesian ace who is now coaching in and competing for the USA. Rasmussen who is in his first tournament after a five-month injury layoff beat Wiranata 13-15, 15-13 and 15-9.

(mc/ds)

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