21 May 1995 - Chinese players Ye Zhaoying and Sun Jun defeated their highly favored Indonesian opponents in today's Sudirman Cup final in Lausanne, Switzerland and enabled China to become the 1995 badminton world team champions.
The world number one ladies doubles pair of Ge Fei and Gu Jun China started the Chinese title drive with an opening match victory over Eliza and Rosiana Zelin 15-9, 15-10. The Chinese defense that saw Indonesian smashes being dug out from just off the playing surface and their rotation smash attack was too much for the Indon pair, about half of whose points came off Chinese unforced errors.
After the Chinese ladies doubles win, Ye Zhaoying upset world number one Susi Susanti 11-2, 11-3 in a display of stroke deception and all-court play that had Susi frozen at times, not knowing what shot Ye was playing or where it was going.
With Indonesia now down two matches in a best-of-five series, men's singles world number one Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia came on court to face the youthful Sun Jun, the 1993 world junior champion and a substitute for Dong Jiong, the injured Chinese number one.
Sun Jun came out with a well-coached game plan based on short serves and tight net play, echoing Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen's tactics in his All-England finals victory over Arbi in March of this year.
Arbi came out smashing, scoring the first four points with his thunderous jumpsmash. Sun Jun then went into his short game tactics and rarely allowed Arbi to unleash his power strokes. Sun Jun won the first 15-7.
Arbi, realizing that he had to win the second game to keep Indonesian hopes for a world team championships alive, came back in the second with some desperate play that saw him diving to retrieve drops and hairpin net shots from Sun Jun. The tiring Sun Jun soon started to lose the fine touch required for the short game tactics to work and allowed Arbi to put his stamp on the second game, 15-9.
The five-minute break before the third game refreshed Sun Jun and allowed him to review tactics with the Chinese coaches. The third game saw Sun Jun executing the short game almost to perfection with drops and net shots that just barely passed over the net. This frustrated Arbi who was trying to accelerate the pace. Sun Jun managed to maintain his touch in the third to win the match and the championship for China at 15-11.
The Chinese players and fans were jubilant at Sun Jun's championship-clinching victory. Sun Jun's teammates rushed to the court and tossed Sun Jun into the air several times in celebration. Coach Li Yongbo was also accorded a similar honor.
The stunned Indonesians took the loss hard, specially since it was to the Chinese who had been written off as a badminton power in steep decline. There were near-fisticuffs as some Indonesian team managers resented two Chinese players celebrating with some Chinese fans in the vicinity of the Indonesian bench. A Chinese lady journalist was slightly hurt in the confrontation.
After International Badminton Federation and Swiss tournament officials had calmed both sides down, world men's doubles number one pair Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja of Indonesia salvaged some honor for their country by defeating Jiang Xin and Huang Zhanzong 11-15, 15-11, 15-6 in a meaningless match.
The mixed doubles was not played after the tournament officials and both teams considered the circumstances.
Denmark and South Korea finished a joint third. England claimed fifth place with a 3-2 victory over Thailand in a relegation playoff.
Sweden won Group 2 to gain promotion back to Group 1 and to be able to contend for the world team title in 1997 in Scotland, while Thailand moves down to Group 2. Taipei won Group 3 and moves to Group 2 in place of Japan.
Australia won Group 4, Norway Group 5, Poland Group 6, Ukraine Group 7, France Group 8, Belarus Group 9, Mauritius Group 10 and Slovakia Group 11.
Scotland was relegated to Group 4, Austria to Group 5, the Czech Republic to Group 6, Iceland to Group 7, Ireland to Group 8, Hungary to Group 9, Pakistan to Group 10 and Italy to Group 11.
Canada placed second in Group 3, while the U.S.A., playing with their Olympic development squad, placed third in Group 6. Malaysia, a powerhouse in men's singles and doubles but a developing country in ladies' and mixed events, did not participate in the world team championships but are entered in the individual championships to be contested also in Lausanne, Switzerland from May 22 to May 28.
25 May 1995 - At the world championships of badminton being contested in Lausanne, Switzerland, Rashid Sidek of Malaysia ousted men's singles world number two-ranked player, Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia, in an exciting round of sixteen match.
Wiranata raced to a quick lead in the first game and looked unbeatable as he won with ease 15-6.
In the second, it was Sidek who took a sizeable early lead, boosted by the cheers of a pro-Malaysian gallery. Sidek, however, was unable to hold the lead and allowed Wiranata to come back on Sidek errors to tie at 13-all. Sidek set at 5 points and managed to win the serve back. He closed out the game, blanking Wiranata in the tiebreak and winning at 18-13.
In the third, Sidek pulled out all stops and seized an 8-0 advantage before Wiranata could score. The Indonesian changed his tactics to a faster paced attacking game to post 2 quick points, but then switched back to a defensive rallying mode of play, apparently hoping to tire Sidek out. The tactical change back failed as Sidek proved fit enough to rally with Wiranata and then to attack with power and speed at the right moments. Sidek easily won the third at 15-5 to gain a place in the quarterfinals.
In another round of sixteen upset, this time in ladies' doubles, Katrin Schmidt and Kerstin Ubben of Germany surprised the number two seeds from Korea, Kim Meehyang and Kim Shinyoung 15-7, 6-15, 17-15. The Koreans looked unprepared for Schmidt, who is tall and deceptively quick despite her bulky build, and had problems hitting past her at the net. They also had problems with Ubben's unusual (for ladies doubles) leaping smashes and drops from the backcourt.
In ladies' singles quarterfinal action, Han Jingna of China ousted the All-England champion from Sweden by way of China, Lim Xiao Qing 11-4, 8-11, 11-1.
Ye Zhaoying, also of China, continued to display her deceptive forehand strokes and finesse net play in defeating Camilla Martin of Denmark 11-5, 11-8.
Bang Soohyun of Korea bested an injured Mia Audina of Indonesia 11-6, 12-11, taking advantage of her opponent's reduced ability to move around the court and attack with jump smashes and round the heads.
Susi Susanti of Indonesia, the number one seed, defeated Zhang Ning of China 11-7, 11-7.
In mixed doubles quarterfinal matches, the scratch pairing of Jens Eriksen and Helene Kirkegaard of Denmark upset seeded compatriots Jon Holst-Christensen and Rikke Olsen 13-8, 15-9, 15- 11.
Top seeds Tomas Lund and Marlene Thomsen of Denmark defeated Kim Dongmoon and Gil Youngah of Korea 15-10, 15-7. Their Swedish rivals, Jan-Eric Antonsson and Astrid Crabo, ousted the English duo of Simon Archer and Julie Bradbury 15-13, 15-9. In this match, the English pair held a large early lead, only to collapse under the pressure of Antonsson's well-placed smashes and Crabo's deceptive cross-courts at the net and midcourt.
The last semifinal spot was taken by China's Liu Jianjun and Ge Fei with their 15-8, 15-6 victory over Indonesia's Trikus Haryanto and Minarti Timur.
26 May 1995 - At the world championships of badminton being contested in Lausanne, Switzerland, Chinese ladies' singles ace, Ye Zhaoying, repeated her conquest last Sunday of the top-ranked Susi Susanti of Indonesia in the world team championship - Sudirman Cup - finals. This time, her victory came in the semifinals of the individual events.
Ye started out slowly, hampered by a right thigh injury that affected her ability to dig out dropshots and hairpin net shots. On the other hand, Susi started out on fire, determined to avenge her 11-2, 11-3 defeat of the previous Sunday. Susi raced to a 3-0 lead, then 4-2, 5-2, 7-3, 9-3 hitting dropshots and netshots that Ye had difficulty retrieving. Susi won the first easily 11-5.
In the second, Susi again burst out quickly, leading 4-0 before Ye got her game of deceptive forehand drops and tight net shots going. As Ye's game improved, Susi's deteriorated as she made several errors to let Ye back into the match. Ye won the second 11-8.
In the third game, it was Ye who started well, buoyed by her second game comeback win and moving better as her injured thigh muscles loosened up. Relentless with her deceptive slice and reverse slice dropshots, hairpin net shots and occasional attack clears and smashes, she did not let Susi into the third game, winning it at 11-2.
In the other ladies' singles semifinal, Han Jingna of China, who had scored a minor upset in the quarterfinals by beating All- England champion Lim Xiao Qing of Sweden, claimed another by defeating second-seed Bang Soohyun of Korea 11-6, 11-4. Nervous at first, the 20-year old Han gave up 4 points to Bang but then settled down and confused Bang throughout the remainder of the match with an assortment of delayed crosscourt flicks, drops and drives as well as a deceptive backhand move at the net.
Han's victory set up an all-Chinese ladies' singles final.
In mixed doubles, two Danish pairs won their semifinals to set up their own all-compatriot final.
The top seeds Tomas Lund and Marlene Thomsen defeated Swedish rivals Jan-Eric Antonsson and Astrid Crabo 12-15, 17-14, 15-9. The Swedes actually had a chance to win the match, having taken the first game mainly on errors to the net or the sideline by Lund and holding match point in the second at 14-12. However, Lund and Thomsen started to concentrate on executing the basic midcourt shots of the mixed game and managed to string points together to tie at 14 and then to win the second at 17-14.
After the five-minute break, Lund and Thomsen came back and executed a game plan that concentrated play on Crabo, trying to pin her to the backcourt. The Danes raced to a 7-0 lead. They then seemed to lose concentration and allowed the Swedes to creep back into the match on inspired play and stroke placements by Antonsson. The Danes then got back into their game plan and won the third game and the match 15-9.
In the other semifinal, Jens Eriksen and Helene Kirkegaard outplayed the Chinese pair of Liu Jianjun and Ge Fei 15-5, 15-3. The Danes had an easy time as the Chinese seemed unfamiliar with the subtleties of modern mixed doubles play, often being caught out of position or playing the wrong shots.
In men's singles quarterfinal action, top seed Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia bested compatriot and defending champion Joko Suprianto 15-8, 15-7. In the match, Suprianto was more than a step slower than Arbi, who, sensing his advantage, played at a fast pace, moving Suprianto all over the court until he could crosscourt smash or drop for a point.
3/4-seed and 1992 Olympic champion Allan Budi Kusuma of Indonesia also fell out of contention as he lost to Park Sungwoo of Indonesia 18-15, 15-9.
Poul-Eric Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark and Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia tangled in a battle of all-court, all-shot players with both testing each other's ability to cover the four corners over and over. The left-handed Hoyer-Larsen who had the tighter shots over the net prevailed 15-8, 15-7.
Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen, the tall Dane, dispatched Rashid Sidek of Malaysia 15-10, 15-1 as Sidek had no answer to the rangy Dane's court coverage and steeply angled jump smashes.
In the men's doubles quarterfinals, top seeds Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja of Indonesia defeated Par-Gunnar Jonsson and Peter Axelsson of Sweden 18-16, 15-8.
Malaysians Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock played Antonius and Kantono of Indonesia. With Yap controlling the play at the net and setting up shots for Cheah's big smashes, the Malaysians prevailed over the Indonesians 15-12, 15-6.
Danes Jon Holst-Christensen and Tomas Lund bested Huang Zhanzhong and Jiang Xin of China 17-14, 15-11 while Kim Dongmoon and Yoo Yongsung of Korea ousted Bambang Suprianto and Rudy Gunawan of Indonesia 15-9, 15-6.
In ladies' doubles quarterfinal action, the Korean pair of Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock upset top seeds Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China in a thrilling three-game match that went to the more consistent and less erratic Koreans 15-12, 11-15, 15-11.
Qin Yongchun and Tang Yongshu of China defeated Lisbet Stuer-Lauridsen and Marlene Thomsen of Denmark with the Chinese taking advantage of the sometimes missing cohesiveness of the relatively new Danish pairing and the errors of an over-eager (at times) Stuer-Lauridsen. Qin and Tang took the match 15-12, 18-16.
Finarsih and Lily Tampi of Indonesia took the measure of Chinese pair of Peng Xinyong and Zhang Jin 15-12, 15-6 behind Lily Tampi's exquisite crosscourt shots at the net and at midcourt coupled with the heavier Indonesian smash attack.
Danes Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen disposed of the surprising German duo of Katrin Schmidt and Kerstin Ubben. The Germans were nervous in patches throughout the match resulting in errors. A disputed line call seemed to unnerve the Germans further and their game lacked intensity afterwards. The scoreline in this match was 15-11, 15-5 in favor of the Danes.
27 May 1995 - At the world championships of badminton being held in Lausanne, Switzerland, Chinese ladies' singles ace, Ye Zhaoying, finally won a world-class title. Ye, whose forehand drops are masterpieces of the deception so crucial to the ladies' singles game, easily disposed of younger compatriot Han Jingna 11-7, 11-0 and was barely troubled by her opponent's nervous and erratic play.
In what many considered as the "real" final the previous day, Ye had beaten the world number one, Susi Susanti of Indonesia 5-11, 11-8, 11-2 in the semifinals.
Susi and Korean Bang Soohyun had always stood in Ye's way in major tournaments. With her second victory over Susi in as many weeks and with Han Jingna disposing of Bang in her half of the semifinal, the way stood clear for Ye to claim a world title.
In mixed doubles, the premier tandem of Tomas Lund and Marlene Thomsen of Denmark defeated the Cinderellas of the tournament, the Danish scratch pairing of Jens Eriksen and Helene Kirkegaard 15-2, 15-6 to claim the world title. Lund's play was overpowering for their opponents, specially Kirkegaard who seemed unable to time her blocks and digs of Lund's powerful smash.
The championship is Lund's second, having won in 1993 in Birmingham, England with Christine Bengtsson of Sweden as his partner.
In semifinal action held before the ladies' singles and mixed doubles finals, injury struck the Danish singles ace Tomas Stuer-Lauridsen for the second time in a year during a big match. Having won the first game against Park Sungwoo of Korea 15-8 and leading in the second game 4-1, the six-foot-five Stuer-Lauridsen went up for one of his patented steeply-angled jumpsmashes to put the score at 5-1. However, he landed badly, turned his ankle and fell to the floor. On medical advice, a tearful Stuer-Lauridsen retired from the match, handing the beaten Park a pass into the finals.
During the World Cup finals last year in Vietnam, Stuer-Lauridsen was playing Heryanto Arbi for the title when he suffered a knee injury that also caused him to retire from the championship match that he could have won.
In the other men's semifinal, Heryanto Arbi, the top seed and the lone Indonesian remaining in the chase, avenged his All-England final defeat at the hands of Poul-Eric Hoyer-Larsen in March by beating the Dane 15-10, 15-7.
This time, Arbi was well-prepared for Hoyer-Larsen's tight net play and slow-paced game and for the Dane's left-handed shots. Arbi played a patient game, matching Hoyer-Larsen at the net with tumble shots, crosscourts, lifts and the occasional brush kills. Arbi also waited for the right moments to unleash his jumpsmashes biding his time until the Dane was badly positioned and then hitting crosscourt.
In men's doubles semifinal action, Tomas Lund of Denmark stayed in the hunt for a second gold medal when he and partner Jon Holst-Christensen defeated Kim Dongmoon and Yoo Yongsoon of Korea 15-12, 15-2.
Their opponents in the finals will be the top seeds Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja of Indonesia, 15-8, 15-6 victors over the Malaysians Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock in a thrilling Asian- style slambang game featuring jumpsmash barrages answered by smash blocks and digs just above the playing surface and reversals of attack.
In the ladies' doubles semifinals, the hard smashing Indonesians Finarsih and Lily Tampi beat the lighter hitting Danes Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen easily in the first game 15-8. The Danes came back in the second as Kirkegaard started to time the shuttle better and hit her smashes harder as the Indonesians started to make more errors. With the score knotted at 14-all and then 2-all in a three-point setting or tiebreak, Lily Tampi and Finarsih bore down to win 17-16.
In the other semifinal, Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock of Korea outplayed, outhit and outhustled the inexperienced Chinese team of Qin Yongchun and Tang Yongshu 15-8, 15-6.
28 May 1995 - Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia defeated Park Sungwoo of Korea 15-11, 15-8 in the men's singles finals of the world championships of badminton in Lausanne, Switzerland to gain the gold medal in this discipline of the sport.
The crowd-pleasing style of Arbi also gained him the crown of the world's best from the highly appreciative audience of 5000 fans who gave the champion a long standing ovation after he scored the championship point and a longer one when he was awarded his gold medal by Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee.
The match was not a cakewalk for Arbi, though, as Park, in the finals mainly because Tomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark was injured during their semifinal the previous evening, came to play.
In fact, Park played even with Arbi for the first 11 points of the first game, patiently retrieving and digging out Arbi shots and scoring on crosscourt combinations and jumpsmashes of his own. In the end, however, Arbi prevailed with patient rallying and four-corners maneuvering of shots together with his potent straight jumpsmash - crosscourt jumpsmash or jumpsmash - net kill combinations unleashed whenever Park was offbalance.
The second game was much the same as Park kept even for the first eight points until Arbi jumpsmashed, faked and crosscourted his way to the fifteenth point, winning the game and the championship on a long lift by Park forced by an ever so tight hairpin tumbling net shot.
Arbi's win helped erase his disappointment at his loss to Sun Jun of China of the pivotal third match of the world team badminton championships - the Sudirman Cup - earlier during the week.
In the ladies' doubles finals, the Korean pair of Gil Youngah and Jang Hyeock seemed outclassed in the first game as they went down to the Indonesian duo of Finarsih and Lily Tampi 3-15. The Koreans were unable to withstand their opponents' heavier smashes and Tampi's exquisite net play.
Gil and the fiery Jang came back in the second with excellent execution of the Asian ladies' doubles style of smash, drop, clear combinations and superb quickness on smash and drive defense to win 15-11.
The third game saw both finalist pairs battle on even terms, matching smashes, drops, clears, tricky net shots and often miraculous digs until each had reached seven points when the Koreans pulled ahead on errors by Tampi and then by Finarsih caused by a frustrating Korean stonewall of a defense or barrages of Korean smashes, drops and drives. At 14-8, Finarsih hit into the net after a series of Korean smashes and drops to hand Gil and the eighteen-year-old Jang the game at 15-8 and the world championship.
In the men's doubles finals, the top seeds Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja of Indonesia outplayed the Danish tandem of Jon Holst-Christensen and Tomas Lund 15-5, 15-2. The jumpsmashing of the Indonesians together with their superb reflexes on defense that saw Mainaky and Subagja executing between-the-legs and behind- the-back blocks of what would normally have been point-scoring Danish smashes was too much for the Holst-Christensen and Lund combo.
Originally posted by D.SHUTTLENWS on the badminton mailing list. Converted to HTML by Anthony Andrews.