OLYMPIC GAMES: BADMINTON - FIRST DAY RESULTS KOREAN RA KYUNG MIN AN UPSET VICTIM IN FIRST ROUND July 24, 1996 (D.Shuttlenws) - Ra Kyung Min, a top Korean women singles player, was surprised by Huang Chia-Chi of Chinese-Taipei in the opening round of the badminton competition at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Ra was defeated by Huang in two games 11-6, 11-7. The Korean has been preoccupied with training for her other event, the mixed doubles, where she is the top-seed and heavy favorite to take the gold medal with her partner, Park Joo Bong, and has given a lower priority to her singles preparation. Yuliani Sentoso of Indonesia lost the first game of her match to Vlada Tchernavskaia of Belarus 6-11. The Indonesian got past her nervousness and easily took the second and third games 11-3 and 11-1 to gain a place in the second round. In men's singles, Jens Olsson of Sweden was also shocked in his first game by the lightly regarded Ken Erichsen of Guatemala, 12-15. Olsson managed to recover and win the next two games and the match, as the Guatemalan of Danish descent faded. American Kevin Han also put on a good performance when he raced to a 15-2 first game win against Peter Knowles of Great Britain. Knowles however settled down and beat Han 15-10 and 15-7 in the next two games to eliminate the lone American male entry. Erica von Heiland, also of the USA, was eliminated in the women's singles event when she was defeated by Jeng Shwu-Zen of Chinese- Taipei 11-6 11-2. Men's Singles - First Round (July 24, 1996) HALL, Darren - Great Britain beat MICHELS, Ron - Netherlands 15-4, 15-4 KIM Hak Kyun - Korea beat KAUL, Anil - Canada on a walkover FUCHS, Hannes - Austria beat ROBERTSON, Julian - Great Britain 15-2, 15-6 LIU EN-HORNG - Chinese Taipei beat CLARISSE, Eddy - Mauritius 15-10, 15-2 KNOWLES, Peter - Great Britain beat HAN, Kevin - USA 2-15, 15-10, 15-7 HELBER, Michael - Germany beat KORCHOUK, Mikhail - Belarus 15-12, 15-1 WAPP, Thomas - Switzerland beat CARULLA SCHULTZ, Mario - Peru 15-8, 10-15, 15-11 STUER-LAURIDSEN, Thomas - Denmark beat AKINSANYA, Kayode - Nigeria 15-2, 15-2 OLSSON, Jens - Sweden beat ERICHSEN, Kenneth - Guatemala 12-15, 15-6, 17-15 SYDIE, Iain - Canada beat HOCKING, Murray - Australia 15-9, 15-9 MACHIDA, Fumihiko - Japan beat BEEHARRY, Stephan Mauritius 15-11, 15-5 DAWSON, Jaimie Canada beat BRANDON, Oscar - Surinam 15-5, 15-4 KITIKUL, Kitipon - Thailand beat VELKOV, Todor - Bulgaria 15-7, 17-15 ONG EWE HOCK - Malaysia beat LILJEQUIST, Robert - Finland 15-1, 15-6 VANDIJK, Jeroen - Netherlands beat UVAROV, Pavel - Russia 15-8, 15-10 YU Lizhi - China beat PONGRATZ, Oliver - Germany 15-5, 12-15, 15-1 SUN Jun - China beat THOBOIS, Etienne - France 15-5, 15-6 Women's Singles - First Round (July 24, 1996) BORG, Margit - Sweden beat NEDJALKOVA, Neli - Bulgaria 11-6, 11-4 JAROENSIRI, Somharuthai - Thailand beat NIELSEN, Elsa - Iceland 11-1, 11-2 JULIEN, Denyse - Canada beat O'CONNOR, Debra - Trinidad and Tobago 11-3, 11-0 ABDULLAH, Zarinah - Singapore beat NOSDRAN, Elena - Ukraine 11-3, 11-0 SONDERGAARD, Anne - Denmark beat KOLEVA, Diana - Bulgaria on a walkover MIZUI, Hisako - Japan beat JEAN-PIERRE, Marie-Josephe - Mauritius 11-2, 11-1 RYBKHINA, Elena - Russia beat MUGGERIDGE, Joanne - Great Britain 11-6, 12-11 HUANG CHIA-CHI - Chinese Taipei beat RA Kyung Min - Korea 11-6, 11-7 WIBOWO, Santi - Switzerland beat DE SOUZA, Martine - Mauritius 11-7, 7-11, 11-3 MORGAN, Kelly - Great Britain beat YANG, Song - Australia 11-1, 11-5 SENTOSO, Yuliani - Indonesia beat TCHERNIAVSKAIA, Vlada - Belarus 6-11, 11-3, 11-1 JENG SHWU-ZEN - Chinese Taipei beat VON HEILAND, Erika - USA 11-6, 11-2 MIZUI, Yasuko - Japan beat CAMPBELL, Lisa - Australia 11-0, 8-11, 11-7 PLUNGWECH, Pornsawan - Thailand beat BENGTSSON, Catrine - Sweden 11-4, 4-11, 11-6 LAKSHIMI, P.V.V. - India beat GIBSON, Ann - Great Britain 11-6, 11-6 KRASOWSKA, Katarzyna - Poland beat LIM, Amparo - Philippnes 11-6, 11-5 COPYRIGHT 1996 BY d.shuttlenws@genie.com. PERMISSION GIVEN to redistribute in whole or in part. (4)