GRAND PRIX FINALS: JOKO PERHAPS INJURED
Early Day 3 Results
by Mike Grossman (from a report filed by J. Chang)

December 6, 1996 (New Shuttlenws) - Joko Suprianto of Indonesia, the world's top-rated badminton men's singles player and one of the heavy favorites at the Lipton Grand Prix Finals now underway in Bali, Indonesia, may have a thigh injury and may not be able to continue in the tournament.

He defaulted his match against Martin Lundgaard Hansen of Denmark yesterday in the round-robin phase of the competition. According to Indonesian sources yesterday, Suprianto had developed an allergy and could not play.

He was scheduled to meet Fung Permadi of Taipei in an early match today. That match has not been played and no official result has been posted.

In reports circulating around the stadium, Suprianto is said to have hurt his thigh when he slipped during his match against Chen Gang of China on Wednesday and the Indonesian team may have been trying to hide the injury yesterday hoping that their ace singles player could recover in time to play today's match against Permadi.

If Suprianto defaults his match today, Permadi wins the men's singles Group A outright with 3 wins and heads into the semifinals tomorrow.

In early men's singles action, Chen Gang defeated Martin Lundgaard Hansen 15-12 and 15-6. Both players are now eliminated from the running in Group A with two losses each.

In the mixed doubles event, Imam Tohari and Ema Ermawati of Indonesia beat Chris Hunt of England and Helene Kirkegaard of Denmark 10-15, 15-10 and 15-8 and put themselves into a tie for the second semfinal berth out of Group A.

Top-seeds Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur beat Thomas Stavngaard and Ann Jorgensen of Denmark 15-5 and 15-4 to finish the round-robin stage undefeated in Group A.

Kusheryanto and Timur will play the second-place pair from Group B in the semifinals tomorrow.

Stavngaard-Jorgensen, Hunt-Kirkegaard and Tohari-Ermawati all stand with 1 win and 2 losses. The tiebreaker process or countback will decide who goes into the semifinals, with Hunt-Kirkegaard having the UNCONFIRMED advantage.

Group B is in a similiar situation. Peter Axelsson and Catrine Bengtsson of Sweden, losers of their first 2 matches, beat Nick Ponting and Joanne Goode of England today 15-12 and 15-12 to get into a tie for second place.

Group B leaders Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark defeated Nimpele Flandy and Rosalina Riseu of Indonesia 15-13 and 15-9 to win the group and the winner's spot in the semifinals outright with 3 wins.

Axelsson-Bengtsson, Ponting-Goode and Flandy-Riseu are in a tie for the second semifinal spot from Group B. The tiebreaker or countback process UNOFFICIALLY is in the Swedish pair's favor.