HONG KONG OPEN: GADE'S CELEBRATION CONTINUES

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS REPORT is presented by badminton world champions YANG YANG (1987 and 1989) and ZHAO JIAN HUA (1991) and by YANG YANG BADMINTON PRODUCTS **

October 30, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - The new world number one player in badminton men's singles, Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark, continued to celebrate his rise to the top of the world rankings at the tender age of 20 by defeating the 1993 world champion Joko Suprianto of Indonesia at the five-star Hong Kong Open championships. With his victory today, Gade, seeded second at this tournament, moves on into the quarterfinals. The talented young Dane beat the veteran Suprianto decisively 15-8 and 15-8.

Meanwhile, eleventh-seeded Kevin Han of the USA, who had been gifted with a golden chance to gain the quarterfinals when top-seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen withdrew at almost the last minute, failed to take advantage of Hoyer's pull-out. Han had some physical problems during the second game of his match with the unseeded and little-known Wong Ewee Mun of Malaysia and was upset 15-7, 6-15 and 1-15.

In the women's singles, Judith Meulendijks of the Netherlands, another young talent and the top-seed at the tournament, was upended by Zhu Yunyi of China 6-11 and 7-11.

In men's doubles, the unseeded but highly regarded Korean pair of Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon made their way into the quarterfinals by upending the eighth seeds Chew Choon Eng and Lee Chee Leung from Malaysia. Kim and Ha are to do battle with the fourth seeded Indonesian pair of Tony Gunawan and Victo Wibowo in the round-of-eight.

Some of today's results:

Men's Singles

Third Round
Wong Ewee Mun (Malaysia) beat 11-Kevin Han (USA) 7-15 15-6 15-1
5-Budi Santoso (Indonesia) beat Ng Wei (Hong Kong) 15-2 15-7
4-Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (Denmark) beat Pontus Jantti (Finland) 18-17 15-7
Chang Jeng-shyuang (Taipei) beat 7-Jeroen Van Dijk (Netherlandsd) 15-12 12-15 15-10
12-Tam Kai-chuen (Hong Kong) beat Yim Bong-eun (Korea) 15-1 15-2
3-Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat 10-Marleve Mainaky (Indonesia) 15-10 9-15 15-11
8-Fung Permadi (Taipei) beat 13-Hwang Sun-ho (Korea) 15-3 15-4
2-Peter Gade Christensen (Denmark) beat 9-Joko Suprianto (Indonesia) 15-8 15-8

Women's Singles

Second Round
Zhu Yunyi (China) beat 1-Judith Meulendijks (Netherlands) 11-6 11-7
Park Yoon-kyung (Korea) beat Jie Elyni (Hong Kong) 11-4 11-2
Koon Wai-chee (Hong Kong) beat 4-Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand) 11-5 11-9
Wu Huimin (China) beat Lee Soon-deuk (Korea) 12-10 10-12 11-3
8-Brenda Beenhakker (Netherlands) beat Neelima Choudhary (India) 11-3 11-3
Gong Ruina (China) beat 4-Cindana Hartono (Indonesia) 11-6 11-1
6-Huang Chia-chi (Taipei) beat Ling Wang-ting (Hong Kong) 11-5 11-3
2-Lee Kyung-won (Korea) beat Siu Ching-man (Hong Kong) 11-0 11-1

Men's Doubles

Second Round
1-Thomas Stavngaard/Jim Laugesen (Denmark) beat Khoo Kok Kheng/Chang Kim Wai (Malaysia) 15-7, 15-18, 15-8
5-Siripong Siripol/Pramote Teerawiwatana (Thailand) beat Yang Bing/Cheng Hong (China) 15-2, 18-17
3-Hermono/Hian Eng (Indonesia) beat Cham Ka-man/Wong Tsz-yin (Hong Kong) 15-7, 15-9
7-Rosman Razak/Tan Kim Her (Malaysia) beat Cun Cun/Chan Siu-kwong (Hong Kong) 15-2, 15-3
Kim Dong Moon/Ha Tae-kwon (Korea) beat 8-Chew Choon Eng/Lee Chee Leong (Malaysia) 15-6, 15-8
4-Tony Gunawan/Victo Wibowo (Indonesia) beat Abubakar Ibrahim/Kayode Akinsanya (Nigeria) 15-3, 15-3
Lee Hyun-il/Park Tae-sang (Korea) beat 6-Anurak Thiraratsakul/Tesana Panvisvas (Thailand) 8-15, 18-14, 15-12
2-Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia) beat Zhang Jun/Yang Ming (China) 15-4, 9-15, 15-7

Women's Doubles

First Round
6-Ng Ching/Ling Wan Tung (Hong Kong) beat Toyin Adebayo/Obiageli Olorunsola (Nigeria) walkover
8-Kim Kyung-ran/Kang Mi-hwa (Korea) beat Li Wing-mui/Jie Elyni (Hong Kong) 15-1, 15-1
5-Chung Jae-hee/Ra Kyung-min (Korea) beat O Unoma/Prisca Azuine (Nigeria) 15-2, 15-1
4-Koon Wai-chee/Tung Chau-man (Hong Kong) beat Dorcas Ezikiel/Elizabeth Didikiri (Nigeria) 15-0, 15-1
7-Wu Humin/Gong Ruina (China) beat Yang Ching/Siu Ching-man (Hong Kong) 15-1, 15-1

(mcoe/dsimmons)