ASIAN JUNIORS: CHINA, INDONESIA SWAP UPSET WINS IN SEMIS

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

April 12, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat defeated top seed Xia Xuanze of China in one of tonight's semifinal matches in the male singles event of the Asian Junior badminton championships being held in Manila, Philippines.

Hidayat, seeded at three-and-four, recovered from a poor start to upset Xia. Hidayat had gone down in embarassing fashion in the first game 2-15 and had to survive a very close second set 17-16 in order to have a chance at victory.

The third game was surprisingly lop-sided. Xia who plays a defensive, running style seemed to have used up his reserves trying to close out Hidayat in the second game and he did not have the energy to cope with the more mobile Indonesian in the decider. Hidayat took the third game and the match 15-4.

On the basis of the seedings, Hidayat's victory was an upset, but was not unexpected since the Indonesian had beaten Xia in two games earlier this week in the team event finals.

In the other male singles semifinal, China's Cheng Hong reciprocated the Hidayat victory with a hard-fought upset of his own. Cheng, also seeded in the third-and-fourth spot, eliminated the second-seeded Rudi Ignatius of Indonesia 9-15, 15-12 and 15-11.

Like Hidayat's win, Chen's was also an upset only on paper. Chen had defeated Ignatius earlier this week in the team event finals.

In the female singles semifinals, third-and-fourth seed Gong Ruina of China survived a stiff challenge from compatriot Pi Hongyan 11-6, 4-11 and 12-10, while the unseeded Zhou Mi of China upset Taiwanese Olympian Huang Chia-chi, a nine-to-sixteen seed, 10-12, 11-6 and 11-9.

(filed by jcfontanilla/written by migrossman)