JAPAN OPEN: MIXED DOUBLES TOP SEEDS ELIMINATED
from a report filed by YANG YANG BADMINTON SHUTTLES

January 17, 1997 (New Shuttlenws) - Mixed doubles top-seeds Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia were ousted from the Japan Open badminton tournament in this evening's quarterfinal action. Kusheryanto and Timur, ranked number one in the world in mixed doubles, went down to defeat at the hands of 5-8 seeds Jens Eriksen and Marlene Thomsen of Denmark in an exciting match that saw all three games go into setting at 13-all.

The Danes, featuring a mixed doubles world champion (Thomsen) and a world championship silver medalist (Eriksen), took the first game at 18-14, dropped the second at 15-18, and then won the decider 18-15.

Second-seeds Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen of Denmark survived a first game loss to Swedish rivals Peter Axelsson and Catrine Bengtsson to gain a spot in the semifinals. Sogaard and Olsen beat the Swedish pair 10-15, 15-4 and 15-8.

In another upset, Liu Yong of China teamed up with Olympic women's doubles gold medalist Ge Fei to eliminate the 5-8 seeds Lee Dong Soo and Park Soo Yun of Korea 15-10 and 15-11.

The victory was the second upset scored by Liu and Ge today. This morning, they had accounted for the 3-4 seeds from Indonesia, Nimpele Flandy and Rosalina Riseu, in a round-of-16 matchup with a score of 15-8 and 15-2.

3-4 seeds Chen Xingdong and Peng Xingyong of China beat Ha Tae Kwon and Yim Kyung Jin of Korea 18-17 and 15-12 to complete the China-versus-Denmark semifinal cast.

3-4 seeds Chen and Peng will battle 5-8 seeds Eriksen and Thomsen, while second-seeds Sogaard and Olsen will play the unseeded Liu and Ge.