INDON MALE TOP-SEEDS ELIMINATED AT WORLD JUNIORS
by Mike Grossman (from information supplied by Sheila Patel at the World Junior Championships Press Desk)

November 23, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - The top-seeded male doubles pair from Indonesia was defeated in today's semifinals at the badminton world junior championships in Silkeborg, Denmark. The loss reduced the badminton power's chances for a world junior title to just one entry in the finals.

Endra Mulyajaya and Hadi Saputra were eliminated by Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan Wye Teck of Malaysia. The middle-seeded Chan and Gan took a close first set from the Indonesians 18-14 and then won the second 15-8 to pull off the minor upset.

Chan and Gan will battle the unseeded but tough-to-beat pair from Taipei, Huang Shih Chung and Chien Yu Hsiu, in the finals. Huang and Chien had upset the second-seeds from Korea, Yim Bang Eun and Kim Yong Hyun, 15-11 and 15-7, in their semifinal match.

Indonesian male singles ace, Yudi Suprayogi, seeded first at the world juniors, was defeated in the quarterfinals by 5-8 seed Zhu Feng from China. Zhu beat the Indon 15-5 and 15-4. In the semifinals, Zhu then put out the 5-8 seeded Indonesian Rony Agustinus 15-11 and 15-7.

Zhu will play Rudy Ignatius, Indonesia's last remaining entry, in the male singles final. The 3-4 seeded Ignatius kept Indon title hopes alive when he defeated the second-seed Xia Xunze in two very hotly contested games 17-16 and 17-14.

Ignatius had defeated 5-8 seed Xie Min of China 15-6 and 15-12 in the quarterfinals, while Xia had beaten non-seed Tafik Hidayat of Indonesia 15-5 and 15-5. Agustinus defeated Park Tae Sang of Korea 15-1 and 18-16 in the quarters.