VIETNAM OPEN: LEE AND YOO PICKED TO WIN

** 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 **

November 18, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yung Sung, fresh from winning the men's doubles championship at the Thailand Open last Sunday, take to the badminton court again this week at the three-star Vietnam Open. Lee and Yoo, a top combination from Korea, have been seeded first at the Vietnamese tournament ahead of Olympic gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia.

Susi Susanti of Indonesia is the top seed in the women's singles event, but her participation is uncertain. Susanti had pulled out of last week's Thailand Open last week due to injury. Her husband, Alan Budi Kusuma, is the fourth seed in men's singles but he had also withdrawn from the Thai Open because of injury and his appearance in Vietnam is not assured.

The Vietnam Open seeds as well as "dangerous" unseeded players (prefixed with X):

Men's Singles
1. Hermawan Susanto (Indonesia)
2. Luo Yigang (China)
3. Ardy B. Wiranata (Indonesia)
4. Alan Budi Kusuma (Indonesia)
5. Chen Gang (China)
6. Henrik Bengtsson (Sweden)
7. Kenneth Jonassen (Denmark)
8. Anders Boesen (Denmark)
X. Thomas Johansson (Sweden)
X. Martin Lundgaard Hansen (Denmark)
X. Yudi Suprayogi (Indonesia)
X. Mark Constable (England)

Women's Singles
1. Susi Susanti (Indonesia)
2. Mia Audina (Indonesia)
3. Kim Ji Hyun (Korea)
4. Mette Sorensen (Denmark)
5. Mette Pedersen (Denmark)
6. Anne Sondergaard (Denmark)
7. Yao Yan (China)
8. Zeng Yaqiong (China)
X. Kelly Morgan (Wales)
X. Ellen Engelina (Indonesia)
X. Lidya Djaelawidjaya (Indonesia)
X. Joanne Muggeridge (England)

Men's Doubles
1. Lee Dong Soo/Yoo Yung Sung (Korea)
2. Rexy Mainaky/Ricky Subagja (Indonesia)
3. Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock (Malaysia)
4. Tao Xiaoqiang/Ge Cheng (China)
X. Zhao Jianhua (China)/Patrick Lau Kim Po (Singapore)

Women's Doubles
1. Eliza Nathanael/Resiana Zelin (Indonesia)
2. Ann Jorgensen/Majken Vange (Denmark)
3. Indarti Isolina/Denyana Lomban (Indonesia)
4. Nicola Beck/Joanne Davies (England)
X. Park Soo Yun/Gil Young Ah (Korea)
X. Finarsih/Minarti Timur (Indonesia)

Mixed Doubles
1. Imam Tohari/Ema Ermawati (Indonesia)
2. Sandiarto/Finarsih (Indonesia)
3. Bambang Suprianto/Rosalina Riseu (Indonesia)
4. Jonas Rasmussen/Ann-Lou Jorgensen (Denmark)
X. Yoo Yung Sung/Gil Young Ah (Korea)
X. Lee Dong Soo/Park Soo Yun (Korea)

(dsimmons)

COPYRIGHT 1997 © NEW SHUTTLENWS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.