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SEA Games: Malaysians Spring A Golden Surprise

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is presented by YANG YANG Badminton Products and their Ontario (Canada) agents - SHAH Enterprises **

August 14, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Malaysian players Chew Choon Eng, Chor Hooi Yee, Rosman Razak and Norashikin Amin sprung a golden surprise yesterda= y in the badminton mixed doubles event at the 20th South East Asian Games in Brunei and guaranteed that the Malaysian team would go home with a gold meda= l from an unexpected source.

Chew and Chor upended top-seeds Wahyu (Agung) Setiawan and Emma Ermawati = in one of yesterday's semifinals 9-15, 15-10 and 15-4, while Razak and Amin toppled the second-seeded Thai pairing of Kunakorn Sudhisodhi and Saralee Thungthongkam 17-16 and 15-12. The two Malaysian pairs will clash in the gol= d medal match later today.

Fellow Malaysian Wong Choon Hann, the top pick in the men's singles event= , also gained a spot in the finals. He defeated Indonesia's Ronny Agustinus in yesterday's semifinal action, 17-15, 15-2. Second seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia beat Roslin Hashim of Malaysia 15-8, 15-13 to earn a finals spot opposite Wong.

In the men's team event finals this past Tuesday, Hidayat humbled Wong in= the first singles match 15-5 and 15-2 and made himself the favourite for the men's singles gold medal, despite Wong's higher seeding.

Indonesia made certain of at least one gold medal yesterday when their wo= men's doubles entries turned back two good Thai pairings. Top-seeds Etty Tantri and Chynthia Tuwankotta beat Satinee Changkrajangwong and Thitikan Duangsiri 15-1 and 15-6, while Indarti Isoliana and Emma Ermawati beat Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn and Saralee Thungthongkam 15-10 and 15-11.

In the women's singles semifinals, Cindana Hartono of Indonesia beat Sati= nee Changkrajangwong of Thailand 11-1 and 11-2, and Ekmongkolpaisarn beat Lidya Djaelawidjaya of Indonesia 11-9, 10-13 and 11-9.

In the men's doubles semifinals, top seeds Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia beat Kunakorn Sudhisodhi and Kitipon Kitikul of Thailand 15-3 and 15-7, and second seeds Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas of Thailan= d defeated Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook of Malaysia 12-15, 15-10 and 15-12.=

(yyn/ds)