ALL-ENGLAND OPEN: RASMUSSEN OUSTS JOKO

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is sponsored by YANG YANG BADMINTON SHUTTLES and their USA agents, CHIN SPORTS (212-645-4142 or chinsports@aol.com). **

March 12, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Peter Rasmussen of Denmark, the 1997 Japan Open champion and also the current Danish national titleholder, today defeated 3/4-seeded Joko Suprianto of Indonesia in early second round action at the All-England Open badminton tournament in Brimingham.

Rasmussen, unseeded here at the All-England, beat the Indonesian, the 1993 world champion and the top-rated men's singles player for most of the past 6 months, in two games.

In the first game, Rasmussen got a slight edge early but Joko managed to catch up to tie at 7-all. Rasmussen then pulled ahead with his Asian- style attacking play to take the game 15-10.

In the second, Rasmussen got control early with rallies that moved Joko around the court and with drop shots that the Indonesian had difficulty returning. Joko scored a few points of his own to get to 3-all. The Dane, perhaps sensing that the rallies were tiring Joko out, increased the pace and mixed powerful jumpsmashes with dropshots.

Suprianto was never really in the game afterwards and often made errors that led to Rasmussen points. The Dane did not let up and closed out Joko 15-3.

Another Danish player scored a second upset in the second round. Martin Lundgaard Hansen eliminated 9/16 seed Chen Gang of China 11-15, 15-11 and 17-15.

Hansen was close to defeat in the third game, behind 8-14 with Chen Gang serving at match point. However, the plucky Dane did not give up and put up a stellar defense to stonewall the Chinese player. Slowly, Hansen came back point by point, turning back Chen at match point 4 more times and gaining more confidence while Chen lost some of his own.

Finally, Hansen pulled even at 14-all.

Chen scored the first point in the tiebreak and would have scored again were it not for a gem of a smash block from Hansen that barely went over the net.

After gaining the serve, Hansen scored a marker with a net kill and then got to his own match point with a smash.

Hansen then tallied the winning point when a Chen smash landed out-of-bounds past the sideline.

Men's singles top-seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark and second-seed Rashid Sidek of Malaysia both went through to the second round.

Hoyer defeated Xie Yangchun of China 15-2 and 15-8, while Sidek had a more difficult win over Iain Sydie of Canada 15-10 and 15-11.

The women's singles seeds all saw action today in the second round and all came thru without dropping a game.

Some second round results (number in parentheses indicates seeding):

Men's Singles
(1)Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark) beat Xie Yangchun (China) 15-2, 15-8
Pang Chen (Malaysia) beat Hwang Sun-ho (Korea) 15-1, 8-15, 15-6
(5/8)Budi Santoso (Indonesia) beat Thomas Sogaard (Denmark) 15-5, 15-12
Martin Lundgaard Hansen (Denmark) beat (9/16)Chen Gang (China) 11-15, 15-11, 17-15
Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat (3/4)Joko Suprianto (Indonesia) 15-10, 15-3
(5/8)Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia) beat Oliver Pongratz (Germany) 15-5, 15-2
(9/16)Dong Jiong (China) beat Kenneth Jonassen (Denmark) 15-9, 15-1
Lin Liwen (China) beat Yong Hock Kin (Malaysia) 15-12, 15-10
(5/8)Indra Wijaya (Indonesia) beat Kasper Odum (Denmark) 15-5, 15-6
Pullela Gopi Chand (India) beat Vladislav Druzhchenko (Ukraine) 8-15, 15-11, 18-14
Luo Yigang (China) beat Jesper Olsson (Sweden) 15-8, 15-3
(9/16)Heryanto Arbi (Indonesia) beat Mark Constable (England) 10-15, 15-10, 15-9
(2)Rashid Sidek (Malaysia) beat Iain Sydie (Canada) 15-10, 15-11

Women's Singles
(1)Mia Audina (Indonesia) beat Hisako Mizui (Japan) 11-5, 11-1
Dai Yun (China) beat Choi Ma-ree (Korea) 11-1, 12-10
Marina Andrievskaya (Sweden) beat Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand) 12-10, 11-4
(5/8)Zhang Ning (China) beat Lee Soon-deuk (Korea) 11-7, 11-1
Kanako Yonekura (Japan) beat Jo Muggeridge (England) 11-7, 11-4
(3/4)Ye Zhaoying (China) beat Anne Sondergaard (Denmark) 11-1, 11-0
Yao Yan (China) beat Michelle Rasmussen (Denmark) 11-0, 11-1
Ra Kyung-min (Korea) beat Mette Sorensen (Denmark) 11-6, 11-6
Han Jingna (China) beat Kelly Morgan (Wales) 11-4, 11-7
Park Jin-hyun (Korea) beat Jaw Hua Ching (Taipei) 11-2, 11-1
Lee Joo-hyun (Korea) beat Takako Ida (Japan) 12-10, 8-11, 12-9
(2)Gong Zhichao (China) beat Vlada Tcherniavskaia (Belarus) 11-5, 11-2
(5/8)Susi Susanti (Indonesia) beat Emma Chaffin (England) 11-1, 11-1
(3/4)Camilla Martin (Denmark) beat Margit Borg (Sweden) 11-6, 11-5
(5/8)Wang Chen (China) beat Chikako Nakayama (Japan) 12-9, 11-1
(5/8)Kim Ji-hyun (Korea) beat Yasuko Mizui (Japan) 11-9, 11-7