SWISS OPEN: DONG, MARTIN TAKE SINGLES TITLES
by Mike Grossman

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is sponsored by YANG YANG BADMINTON PRODUCTS and their Swiss agents, SQUIRREL SA (24-494-3222/fax:24-494-1131). **

March 23, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - China's Dong Jiong took his second major badminton men's singles title in a row when he bested Olympic finals rival Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark in today's championship match at the Swiss Open tournament in Basel.

Dong, winner of the prestigious All-England Open last week, defeated Hoyer also for the second time in two weeks. The first game in this rematch of the two Atlanta Olympic finals contestants was closely fought with the younger Chinese player prevailing 17-14. The second was not as close. Dong won it at 15-11, although Hoyer, the Olympic gold medalist, did give his Chinese opponent a good fight.

With his defeat, Hoyer continued his unhappy string of losses in the finals and semifinals of major open tournaments since he won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

Birthday celebrant Camilla Martin gave herself a fine birthday present today when she beat world and All-England champion Ye Zhaoying of China to take the Swiss Open women's singles title home to Denmark. Martin had dropped a tightly contested first game to the Chinese player 9-12 before coming back to take the second and third games 11-6 and 11-5.

The two remaining Indonesian hopes for a Swiss Open title went down to defeat in their championship matches, leaving badminton power Indonesia without a championship victory for the second straight week.

Men's doubles top-seeds Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya, ranked number one in the world, failed to take advantage of a 15-9 first game win and lost to Koreans Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yung Sung. Lee and Yoo took the second and third games 15-11 and 15-4.

The Korean title victory is the fourth major men's doubles crown this year for a Korean pair. Ha Tae Kwon and Kang Kyung Jin had taken the Korean, Swedish and All-England championships earlier this year.

China's Ge Fei and mixed doubles partner Liu Yong turned back Flandy Limpele and Minarti Timur of Indonesia 15-9 and 15-9 in the mixed doubles finals. Liu and Ge remain undefeated this year and the two have beaten every top-rated mixed doubles pair since they formed their partnership late last year.

Ge also took home a second title as she and Gu Jun, the Olympic women's doubles gold medalists and world number ones, continued to exhibit their dominance in their event. They beat their singles specialist compatriots Han Jingna and Ye Zhaoying 9-15, 15-2 and 15-11 to add the Swiss Open to their collection of championships.