UPSETS GALORE AT JAPAN OPEN
from information supplied by YANG YANG BADMINTON EQUIPMENT

January 15, 1997 (New Shuttlenws) - Upsets were the order of the day as the five-star Japan Badminton open began today.

The most notable upset was the men's singles defeat of top-seeded Dong Jiong of China by the comebacking Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia. Wiranata had been out of action for many months due to a bout of hepatitis and Indonesian badminton officials had almost almost considered his career ended.

Wiranata, a top-rated player for many years but now ranked out of the top 20 because of his illness, beat Dong, the Olympic silver-medalist, 18-13 and 15-6 in a second-round match that took 50 minutes to complete.

In another big men's singles upset, Henrik Sorensen of Denmark took out 3-4 seed Fung Permadi of Chinese-Taipei in a first-round match.

Permadi seemed to be on the way to an easy victory when he opened up with a 10-2 lead. However, his clears and lifts began to go short and Sorensen capitalized with point-scoring smashes to come back and win 18-13 in the first game and 15-11 in the second.

In other first round men's singles upsets, Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark eliminated 5-8 seed Sun Jun of China 15-11 and 15-8 while the tenacious Fumihiko Machida delighted the Japanese audience when he defeated 9-16 seed Salim of Indonesia 15-12 and 15-8. Henrik Bengtsson of Sweden beat the off-form 9-16 seed Kim Hak Kyun of Korea in three games 15-4, 6-15 and 15-10.

In a second round men's singles upset, Peter Rasmussen of Denmark, the so-called Danish Asian player due to his aggressive attacking Asian-style of play, beat 5-8 seed Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia 15-6, 16-18 and 15-11. Rasmussen is playing in his first international tournament after a long injury-caused layoff.

Men's singles second seed Rashid Sidek of Malaysia won both of his matches today. He easily beat Tadashi Ohtsuka of Japan 15-2 and 15-2 first and then later fashioned a 15-8 and 15-3 victory over Nunung Subandoro of Indonesia.

The other 3-4 men's singles seed, Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, also won both of his matches. Hoyer beat a long-armed and difficult Colin Haughton of England in the first round 15-12 and 15-11. In his second round match, Hoyer defeated American Kevin Han. Hoyer was hard-pressed by the lanky Chinese-American player in the first but managed to scrape by, 18-16. Hoyer had an easier time in the second, winning that one 15-6.

Taipei Open champion, Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark, seeded 9-16 here, defeated Iain Sydie of Canada 15-7 and 15-6 in his first-round match. In his second match of the day, Gade eliminated Darren Hall of England 15-11 and 15-6.

In women's singles, Ra Kyung Min of Korea upended 5-8 seed Lidya Djaelawidjaya of Indonesia in a first-round match 11-7 and 11-7, while her compatriot, Lee Joo Hyun eliminated another 5-8 seed, Meiluawati of Indonesia, 11-3 and 11-7.

Women's singles top-seed Mia Audina ousted Lotte Thomsen of Denmark 11-1 and 11-3 in her first-round match, while second-seed Gong Zhichao of China took out Ellen Engelina of Indonesia 11-5 and 11-6.

3-4 seed Ye Zhaoying of China beat Huang Chia-chi of Chinese Taipei 11-3 and 11-6, while Denmark's Camilla Martin, also a 3-4 seed, prevailed over a tough Dai Yun of China in three games, 11-5, 4-11 and 11-8.

In men's doubles first-round action, 5-8 seeds Rudy Wijaya and Tony Gunawan of Indonesia were shown to the exit door by Thailanders Kitikul Kitipon and Pramote Teerawiwatana 15-10 and 15-13.

All the other seeds in the men's doubles won their first-round matches. Top picks Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia breezed past Tam Lok Tin and Chan Siu Kwong of Hong Kong 15-3 and 15-1, while second seeds Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia had to struggle to get past Koreans Lee Dong Soo and Hwang Sun Ho 15-7, 7-15 and 15-11.

Taipei Open champions Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya of Indonesia, seeded 3-4 here, beat Seiichi Watanabe and Fumihiko Machida of Japan 15-3 and 15-10, while the other 3-4 seeds, Antonius Iriantho and Denny Kantono of Indonesia, took out Brian Moody and Mike Beres of Canada 15-3 and 15-7.

In women's doubles, two 5-8 seeds went out on walkovers. In the first round, Rikke Olsen and Helene Kirkegaard were not able to play, giving the scratch pairing of Kyoko Komuro (Japan) and Kara Solmundson (Canada) a pass to the second round. Kirkegaard was also unable to play in the Taipei Open last week.

In a second round matchup, Japan's Aiko Miyamura and Akiko Miyamura were unable to take the court, giving a pair of Chinese singles specialists, Ye Zhaoying and Dai Yun, a free ride into the quarterfinals.

Another women's singles specialist, Susi Susanti of Indonesia, was victorious in the women's doubles today. Susanti and Finarsih beat Kaori Mori and Naoko Miyake of Japan 15-3 and 15-5.