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INDIAN OPEN: HOYER SURVIVES TOUGH OPENER

February 13, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - At the Indian Open badminton tournament being played in New Delhi, 1996 Olympic men's singles champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark survived a tough opening match against former All-England champion and 1992 Olympic silver medalist Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia.

The second round match between Hoyer and Wiranata was a close contest that went to a third and deciding game. Hoyer started out slowly and dropped the first game to Wiranata 8-15. Wiranata had some opportunities to defeat the Olympic champion in the second but Hoyer managed to overcome the Indonesian 15-10. In the decider, Wiranata, who is on the comeback trail after a stamina-sapping bout with hepatitis A, seemed tired after the opening points. Hoyer took the third game and the match 15-5.

Second seed Hendrawan of Indonesia was upended by Malaysia's Jason Wong 11-15 and 15-18, and joint 3rd-and-4th seed Dwi Aryanto, also of Indonesia, was surprised by Gopi Chand of India 15-8, 10-15 and 5-15.

Heryanto Arbi, the current world champion and the other joint 3rd-and-4th seed, easily defeated Rajeev Bagga of India, the World Games for the Deaf champion, 15-3 and 15-4.

If Hoyer and Arbi prevail over their next opponents in the quarterfinals, the two remaining seeds will clash in the semifinals.

Hoyer's quarterfinal match will be against Wong Choon Han of Malaysia, while Arbi will play Tam of Hong Kong.

The other quarterfinals will feature Gopi Chand against Jang Chon Woong of Korea, and Jason Wong against Kim Hyung Joon of Korea.

Other men's singles second round results:
Wong Choon Han (Malaysia) beat Kim Yong Ho (Korea) 15-4 15-0
Tam Kai Chuen (Hong Kong) beat ) M. Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) 15-6 15-8
Jang Chon Woong (Korea) beat Vikrant Patwardhan (India) 17-14 15-6
Kim Hyung Joon (Korea) beat Sidharth Jain (India) 18-14 15-8