CHINA'S SUN WINS ANOTHER CROWN IN MOSCOW
by Mike Grossman (from a report filed by YANG YANG Badminton Equipment)

October 14, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - For the second week in a row, Sun Jun of China captured the men's singles title in a major international badminton tournament. Following on the heels of his championship last week at the Dutch Open, Sun was victorious in the men's singles event at the Russian Open in Moscow yesterday.

Sun, a former world junior champion, defeated Hu Zhilan, also of China, in the finals 15-8 and 15-10 to add the Russian Open crown to his growing collection.

In women's singles, Han Jingna, another former world junior champion from China, took top honors by defeating compatriot Gong Zhichao in the event finals 11-7 and 11-5.

Gong was a surprise finalist, reaching the championship match by virtue of a 11-8, 9-11 and 11-8 upset win over top-seed Yao Yan, another of the corps of high-caliber Chinese women players.

In the men's doubles, Russians Andreij Antropov and Nikolaj Zuev proved that their ascent into the top ten of the world rankings was no fluke when the duo beat the tough Chinese pair of Tao Xiaoqiang and Ge Cheng to claim the men's doubles title.

The Russian pair started off badly, dropping the first game to the Chinese 10-15 and only managing to scrape by in a thriller of a second game 17-15.

Their efforts in the first two games and the tight second game loss took the starch out of the visiting Chinese, allowing Antropov and Zuev an easy 15-5 victory in the decider.

Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark overcame a second-game surge by Christine (Magnusson) Gandrup and Marina Andrievskaya of Sweden and won the women's doubles finals with a 15-12, 10-15 and 15-5 score.

In mixed doubles, the Chinese team of Chen Xingdong and Peng Xingyong took the title with a comeback win over Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark.

Chen and Peng lost the first game to the Danish duo 11-15 and then had to struggle to stay in the match by winning the second 15-12. In the third, Chen and Peng were the victors at 15-8.