HOYER-LARSEN GOES THRU TO FINALS OF DUTCH OPEN
by Mike Grossman (from a report filed by YANG YANG Badminton Equipment)

October 6, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - Olympic men's singles gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark defeated Chen Gang of China in the semifinals of badminton's Dutch Open in s'Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands yesterday.(BR>

The topseeded Danish player beat Chen in four games of a best-of-five match 11-8, 6-9, 9-6 and 9-2.

The Dutch Open is the first major badminton tournament in which a new scoring system is being tried. Normal badminton scoring uses a best-of- 3 games format with the first player to score 15 (11 in the case of women's singles) winning a game. In the Dutch Open system, matches are played in a best-of-5 games format with the first player to score 9 winning the game. There is a provision for a tight game to go into overtime or "setting" - if a game is tied at 8-all, the first player to score 8 may "set" the game to a three-point overtime.

Hoyer-Larsen will face the second-seeded Sun Jun from China in today's championship match. Sun qualified for the finals by defeating Darren Hall of England 9-1, 3-9, 9-5, and 9-4.

In the semifinals of the women's singles event, second-seed Yao Yan defeated Mette Pedersen of Denmark 11-8, 9-3, and 9-0 to set up a finals encounter with compatriot Han Jingna.

Han beat Swedish player Catrine Bengtsson 9-3, 5-9, 9-0, and 9-2 in her semifinal match.

In men's doubles, the Chinese pair of Liu and Zhang beat John Quinn and Nick Ponting of England 11-9, 9-2, and 9-7 in one semifinal match while Ge Cheng and Tao Xiaoqiang, also from China, defeated the top English pair of Chris Hunt and Simon Archer 9-5, 9-7, 4-9, and 9-5 in the other.

Dutch players Eline Coene and Erica van den Heuvel made it thru to the finals of the women's doubles after dropping the first game of their semifinal match against Joanne Davies and Nicola Beck of England 2-9. Coene and van den Heuvel came back from the bad start to take the next three games 9-6, 9-2 and 9-7.

In the finals, Coene and van den Heuvel will play Christine Gandrup (formerly Christine Magnusson) and Margit Borg of Swede, 9-7, 9-5 and 9-5 winners in their semifinal over Joanne Muggeridge of England and Kelly Morgan of Wales.

The mixed doubles finals will be an all-Swedish affair between the team of Jan-Eric Antonsson and Astrid Crabo and the tandem of Peter Axelsson and Catrine Bengtsson.

Antonsson and Crabo beat James Pearson and Sara Hardaker of England 9-3, 9-3 and 9-5 to qualify for the championship match.

Axelsson and Bengtsson took out Stefan Kuhl and Nicol Pitro of Germany 7-9, 9-6, 9-6,and 11-8 in a come-from-behind win to book their place in the mixed doubles finals.

Box scores from the quarterfinals follow:

Men's Singles Hoyer-Larsen - Denmark beat Kenneth Jonassen - Denmark
9-6, 9-6, 7-9, 9-4
Chen Gang - China beat Soren Nielsen - Denmark
9-2, 9-7, 9-2
Darren Hall - England beat Peter Gade - Denmark
9-6, 9-6, 9-2
Sun Jun - China beat Jeroen van Dijk - Netherlands
11-10, 9-6, 9-5

Women's Singles
Catrine Bengtsson - Sweden beat Tanya Groves - England
9-5, 9-6, 9-5
Han Jingna - China beat Kelly Morgan - Wales
9-4, 9-2, 9-3
Mette Pedersen - Denmark beat Christine Gandrup - Sweden
5-9, 9-2, 9-3, 6-9, 9-7
Yao Yan - China beat Judith Meulendijks - Netherlands
9-1, 9-1, 5-9, 9-2

Men's Doubles
John Quinn/Nick Ponting - England beat Peter Axelsson/Par-Gunnar Jonsson - Sweden
1-9, 9-4, 9-4, 9-4
Liu/Zhang - China beat Popov/Stoyanov - Bulgaria
9-3, 9-4, 9-3
Ge Cheng/Tao Xiaoqiang - China beat Kenny Middlemiss/Alastair Hogg - Scotland
9-0, 9-4, 9-1
Chris Hunt/Simon Archer - England beat Chris Bruil/Quintin van Dalm -Netherlands
7-9, 9-0, 11-8, 11-9

Women's Doubles
Christine Gandrup/Margit Borg - Sweden beat Brenda Conijin/Nicole van Hooren - Netherlands
9-3, 9-5, 11-8
Joanne Muggeridge - England/Kelly Morgan - Wales beat Blanchflower/Watt - Scotland
9-1, 9-3, 9-5
Eline Coene/Erica van den Heuvel - Netherlands beat Severien/Janssen - Netherlands
9-2, 9-1, 9-1
Joanne Davies/Nicola Beck - England beat Nicol Pitro - Germany/ Elinor Middlemiss - Scotland
11-8, 9-4, 7-9, 11-9

Mixed Doubles
Jan-Eric Antonsson/Astrid Crabo - Sweden beat Nick Ponting/Nicola Beck - England
9-4, 9-2, 9-1
James Pearson/Sara Hardaker - England beat Van Barneveld/Jonathans - Netherlands
9-2, 11-9, 9-6
Stefan Kuhl/Nicol Pitro - Germany beat Monteiro/Achterberg - Netherlands
9-4, 9-1, 9-2
Peter Axelsson/Catrine Bengtsson - Sweden beat Robertson/Davies - England
6-9, 0-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-6