GADE AND WIRANATA ROLL INTO JAPAN OPEN SEMIS
from a report filed by YANG YANG BADMINTON SHUTTLES

January 17, 1997 (New Shuttlenws) -The 9-16 seeded Peter Gade-Christensen of Denmark and the unseeded Indonesian veteran Ardy Wiranata won their men's singles quarterfinal matches today at the Japan Open badminton tournament in Tokyo. Gade defeated Indonesian Budi Santoso in three games while Wiranata, on the comeback trail after becoming sick with hepatitis A, beat teammate Alan Budi Kusuma.

Gade had a tough time against Santoso who tried to counter Gade's attack and aggression with slow, patient rallies. Santoso managed to upset Gade's rhythm through most of the match with deep lifts and clears.

Gade dropped the first game to the patient Santoso 9-15. In the second game, Gade had more opportunities to attack some of the Santoso lifts and clears. Gade took the second 15-10.

In the third game, Santoso maintained his tactic of slowing play down and engaging in long rallies. Gade maintained pace and kept running around the court retrieving and returning shots. At 10-8, Gade changed to a short serve and quickened the pace. This apparently caught Santoso off-guard and he was unable to tally another point, giving Gade the game and the match at 15-8.

Wiranata had a much easier time against Kusuma, beating him 15-5 and 15-7.

Peter Rasmussen of Denmark and Park Sung Woo of Korea also won their men's singles quarterfinal matches. The unseeded Rasmussen beat Jeroen van Dijk of the Netherlands 15-8 and 15-12, while the 9-16 seeded Park defeated Indra Wijaya of Indonesia 15-11 and 15-6.

Gade will play Park in one semifinal tomorrow while Wiranata and Rasmussen are matched up in the other semifinal.

In women's singles, the top four seeds all won their quarterfinal matches.

Top seed Mia Audina of Indonesia again had to survive a tough challenge to stay in the hunt. Audina and 5-8 seed Zhang Ning battled for each point in the first two games, both of which went to setting at 10-all. Audina dropped the first 10-12 and then won the second 12-10. In the third game, Audina had the better of Zhang as she won 11-5.

Second seed Gong Zhichao of China beat Kim Ji Hyun of Korea 11-5 and 11-7. 3-4 seed Ye Zhaoying of China defeated Ra Kyung Min of Korea 12-11 and 11-8, and Camilla Martin, the other 3-4 seed, beat Korea's Lee Joo Hyun 11-4 and 11-3.

Audina will play Ye, and Gong faces off against Martin in tomorrow's semifinal action.

In men's doubles, Thomas Lund showed that his decision not to retire at the end of 1996 was correct and that he had some more competitive play left in his often-injured joints when he and partner Jon Holst-Christensen, seeded 5-8 here, upset the red-hot Indonesian pair of Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya of Indonesia, seeded 3-4. Lund and Holst beat Sigit and Wijaya 15-12 and 15-8.

Lund and Holst's victory puts them in the semifinals against the top-seeds Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia, who defeated the Korean 5-8 seeds Ha Tae Kwon and Kang Kyung Jin in two tightly contested games 18-14 and 18-15.

The other semifinals will be between second seeds Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia, and 3-4 seeds Antonius Irianto and Denny Kantono of Indonesia.

Cheah and Yap beat Archer and Hunt of England 15-6 and 15-12, while Kantono and Antonius defeated 5-8 seeds Zhang Wei and Liu Yong of China 15-9 and 15-9 in today's quarterfinals.

In women's doubles, the top four seeds all made it thru to the semifinals. Top-seeds Eliza Nathanael and Rosiana Zelin of Indonesia beat a scratch pair of singles specialists, Dai Yun and Ye Zhaoying of China, 15-8 and 15-7, while second-seeds Ge Fei and Gu Jun of China defeated Takae Masumo and Chikako Nakayama of Japan 15-10 and 15-3.

3-4 seeds Tang Yongshu and Qin Yiyuan of China eliminated Hiroko Nagamine and Satomi Igawa of Japan 15-5 and 15-4 while the other 3-4 seeds, Marlene Thomsen and Lisbet Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark, defeated another pair of Chinese singles specialists, Gong Zhichao and Zhang Ning, 15-7 and 15-8.

In tomorrow's semifinals, Nathanael and Zelin will play Tang and Qin while Ge and Gu face off against Thomsen and Stuer.

In mixed doubles second round action, top seeds Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia beat Swedes Henrik Andersson and Margit Borg 15-6 and 15-5, while second seeds Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark defeated Sudhisodhi and Plungwech of Thailand 15-4 and 15-1.

Other second round mixed doubles results:

5-8 seeds Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Mike Beres/Robbyn Hermitage (Canada) 15-0 and 15-6

3-4 seeds Chen Xingdong/Peng Xingyong (China) beat Jens Olsson/Astrid Crabo (Sweden) 15-8, 6-15 and 15-8

Ha Tae Kwon/Yim Kyung Jin (Korea) beat 5-8 seeds Thomas Stavngaard/Ann Jorgensen (Denmark) 15-12, 4-15 and 15-9

5-8 seeds Lee Dong Soo/Park Soo Yun (Korea) beat Chan Siu Kwong/Ling Wan Ting (Hong Kong) 15-3 and 15-1

Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) beat 3-4 seeds Nimpele Flandy/Rosalina Riseu (Indonesia) 15-8 and 15-2

5-8 seeds Peter Axelsson/Catrine Bengtsson (Sweden) beat Simon Archer/ Joanne Wright (England) 15-10 and 15-10

(Quarterfinal results in mixed doubles were not available).