KOREAN OPEN: WORLD NUMBER ONE ELIMINATED
(from a report filed by YANG YANG BADMINTON SHUTTLES)

January 23, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Rashid Sidek of Malaysia, the newly anointed world number one badminton men's singles player on the International Badminton Federation's ranking list, did not have long to celebrate his top-gun status. Sidek was eliminated from title contention at the six-star US$250,000 Samsung Korean Open today by Kim Hak Kyun of Korea 15-8, 12-15 and 15-9 in a round-of-16 match.

The Sidek-Kim contest was a long one, lasting close to 75 minutes. Towards the end, the 29-year old Sidek was clearly spent and was unable to contend with Kim.

Kim Hak Kyun later on followed his win over Sidek with a quarterfinal victory of Indra Wijaya of Indonesia.

Wijaya had the upper hand early in the first game, taking a 7-3 lead. However, he began to play erratically under pressure from Kim. Kim managed to get close at 8-9. Wijaya then strung several points together with smash attacks and clever net play to climb back to a 12-8 advantage.

Kim again managed to pressure Wijaya into several errors with his defense, deception and occasional attacks. Kim caught up at 12-all and then rolled on to a 15-12 first game win.

In the second, Kim was in control, winning at 15-6.

Joining Kim in the men's singles semifinals is compatriot Park Sung Woo who upset 3-4 seeded Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia in his quarterfinal match 15-13 and 15-3.

Also making it into the semifinals are Yong Hock Kin of Malaysia, who beat Kim Chul Yung of Korea 15-8 and 15-12, and Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark, who defeated Sun Jun of China 15-9 and 15-11.

Park will face Yong in one semifinal match, and Kim will battle Stuer in the other.

In other men's singles round-of-16 action earlier on, Ong Ewe Hock had disposed of Chen Gang of China 15-12 and 15-7, while Park had defeated Budi Santoso of Indonesia 15-12 and 15-2. Yong had eliminated Thomas Johansson of Sweden 15-5 and 15-5. Sun Jun had defeated Indonesian Jeffer Rosobin 15-9 and 15-5, and Wijaya had beaten Luo Yigang of China 15-11 and 17-15.

In women's singles, Chinese and Korean players dominated the round-of-16 with Yasuko Mizui of Japan also staying in the hunt.

Top-seed Gong Zhichao of China disposed of Takako Ida of Japan 11-8 and 11-8. Second-seed Ye Zhaoying of China beat Lee Kyung Won of Korea 12-9 and 11-4.

Other women's singles round-of-16 winners were:

Lee Joo Hyun (Korea) who beat Naoko Miyake (Japan) 11-1, 6-11 and 11-2
Kim Joo Hyun (Korea) who beat Shin Ja Young (Korea) 11-1 and 11-2
Dai Yun (China) who beat Kim Kyung Ran (Korea) 11-5 and 11-2
Ra Kyung Min (Korea) who beat Huang Chia-chi (Taipei) 11-7 and 11-5
Zhang Ning (China) who beat Marina Andrievskaya (Sweden) 115-5 and 11-4
Yasuko Mizui (Japan) who beat Denyse Julien (Canada) 11-6 and 11-6

In mixed doubles round-of-16 action, second seeds Nimpele Flandy and Rosalina Riseu of Indonesia were upset by Koreans Choi Ji Tae and Cha Yoon Suk 7-15, 15-7 and 17-14. Top seeds Tri Kusheryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia stayed in contention with their 15-11, 11-15 and 15-4 victory over Simon Archer and Joanne Wright of England.

Other mixed doubles round-of-16 winners were:

Ha Tae Kwon/Kim Shin Young (Korea) who beat Henrik Andersson/Margit Borg (Sweden) 15-6 and 15-2
Chen Xingdong/Peng Xingyong (China) who beat Kim Young Gil/Choi Ma Ree (Korea) 15-0 and 15-5
Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) who beat Lee Dong Soo/Park Soo Yun (Korea) 15-10 and 15-11
Kang Kyung Jin/Kim Mee Hyang (Korea) who beat Chris Hunt/Donna Kellogg (England) 11-15, 15-12 and 15-9
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) who beat Kwon Dae Bong/Kang Mi Hwa (Korea) 15-4 and 15-3
Yoo Yung Sung/Jang Hye Ock (Korea) who beat Peter Axelsson/Catrine Bengtsson (Sweden) 15-7 and 15-4

In men's doubles, top-seeds Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock defeated Kim Jae Hwan and Lee Suk Ho of Korea 15-8 and 15-12 to qualify for the quarterfinals where they will face the Russian pair of Andrej Antropov and Nikolaj Zuev.

Second seeds Tony Gunawan and Rudy Wijaya of Indonesia also made it through with an 18-15 15-12 victory over Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson of Sweden. They will face Koreans Kim Jung Suk and Choi Ji Tae who defeated Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah of Malaysia 15-12 and 17-14.

In women's doubles, top seeds Eliza Nathanael and Rosiana Zelin had to withdraw from the competition this morning. Zelin had awakened with a fever and was unable to play.

(Results of other matches were not available).