GADE UPSETS A TIRED PERMADI IN TAIPEI OPEN SEMI

January 11, 1997 (New Shuttlenws) - Peter Gade-Christensen, the young Danish badminton men's singles player who is touted as a future world-beater, today took another step up the ladder when he upset the top-seeded Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals of the 5-star Taipei Open.

Gade and Permadi battled in the first game to a 14-all tie. Gade then prevailed over a tiring Permadi in the 3-point setting, 3-0, to take the game at 17-14.

In the second, the 29-year old Permadi was clearly spent and was no match for the 20-year old from Denmark. Gade scored point after point and beat Permadi in a rout, 15-0, to gain his first major tournament final.

Second-seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark prevailed over Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia in a three-game affair. Hoyer dropped the first game to Susanto 10-15 and then won the next two at 15-11 and 15-9 to set up a rare all-Denmark men's singles final.

In women's singles, top-seed Mia Audina easily disposed of Pornsawan Plungwech of Thailand 11-7 and 11-0 in one semifinal match. Camilla Martin of Denmark, the second-seed, defeated Lee Joo Hyun of Korea 11-8 and 11-4 in the other semifinal.

In men's doubles, Chandra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia scored a mild upset when they beat the top-seeds and world number ones, Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, also of Indonesia, 15-7, 9-15 and 15-12.

In the other men's doubles semifinal, Indonesians Antonius Iriantho and Denny Kantono prevailed in a battle-royale over Koreans Ha Tae Kwon and Kang Kyung Jin, 17-14, 8-15 and 18-17.

In women's doubles, the makeshift but favoured combination of Rikke Olsen (Denmark) and Finarsih (Indonesia) beat Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsuda of Japan 15-11 and 15-8 to gain a spot in the finals.

Finarsih was playing with Olsen as a last-minute replacement for Olsen's regular partner, Helene Kirkegaard, who had to scratch from the tournament. Both are top-rated doubles players.

In the other women's doubles semifinal, Yim Kyung Jin and Park Soo Yun of Korea beat the Mizui sisters from Japan, Hisako and Yasuko, 15-12 and 15-13.

In mixed doubles, 3-4 seeds Sandiarto and Finarsih (Indonesia) came back from losing the first game badly to upset the top-seeded pair of Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen 4-15, 17-14 and 15-10 in one semifinal.

In the other mixed doubles semifinal, Lee Dong Soo and Park Soo Yun of Korea beat Imam Tohari and Ema Ermawati of Indonesia 15-13 and 15-11.