KONICA CUP (SINGAPORE OPEN): SUN JUN BEATS THE DRAFT

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July 25, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Top-seed Sun Jun of China had to find a way to defeat the strong draft in the National Indoor Stadium in today's quarterfinals of the Konica Cup - Singapore Open badminton tournament in order to stay alive in the hunt for the men's singles title.

In the first game of his match against Indonesia's Marleve Mainaky, Sun had problems playing with the draft behind him as his shots would often fly long. Sun lost the first 5-15.

In the second, the roles were reversed as Sun now was playing against the draft, able to hit harder and still keep his shots in play. It was Mainaky this time who had problems with the breeze. Sun took the second game 15-3.

In the first half of the decider, Sun again had the draft behind him. This time, however, the Chinese ace kept the shuttle low and away from the breeze. He got ahead of Mainaky quickly and kept control of the match at the change of ends to win the third game with ease 15-2.

Another men's singles match was also bedeviled by the strong draft.

Second seed Heryanto Arbi dropped the first game of his quarterfinal against Jason Wong of Malaysia 2-15. Wong, playing against the breeze, went on the attack early with powerful smashes that stayed inbounds.

In the second game, it was Arbi who had the effective offense, winning at 15-4.

Arbi took a three-point lead early in the decider before Wong got on the scoreboard with smash attacks. The Malaysian took the lead 6-3 before Arbi flattened his game and caught up to Wong. Leading at the change of ends, Arbi was not to be denied the victory, winning at 15-7.

Third seeded Ong Ewe Hock of Malaysia and seventh seed Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia hooked up in a battle of tigerish retrievers and defenders. Ong and Wiranata played to a 14-all standstill in the first game, with the Malaysian squeaking by in the three-point setting 3-1.

Ong seemed to be on the way to a semifinal berth when he smashed the shuttle to a 6-0 lead in the second. Wiranata though came back to win at 15-8 as Ong tired.

The five-minute break before the decider did not seem to help the Malaysian player any. Ong was at least a step slower and he fell behind early to Wiranata. The Indonesian was leading at the the change of ends 8-4 and kept on scoring to gain victory at 15-6.

Indra Wijaya of Indonesia had an easy victory over teammate George Rimarcdi 15-1 and 15-5.

Sun and Wijaya will clash in one of tomorrow's semifinals while Ardy and Arbi will face off in the other semifinal.

In the semifinals of the mixed doubles event, Bambang Suprianto and Rosalina Riseu defeated Yoo and Chung of Korea 15-10 and 15-5. Olympic champion Kim Dong Moon and partner Park So Yun, both from Korea, took the other final berth, beating Indonesians Agung and Anastasia 15-6 and 15-9.

The last remaining Europeans dropped out of contention at the quarterfinal phase today. The Netherlands's young women's singles hopeful Judith Meulendijks lost to Korean Kim Ji Hyun 7-11 and 10-12, while the English men's doubles pair of Nick Ponting and John Quinn were unable to play their match agaist world champions Budiarto Sigit and Chandra Wijaya of Indonesia.

Results of today's key matches:

SEMIFINALS
MIXED DOUBLES
Bambang Suprianto/Rosalina Riseu (Indonesia) beat Yoo Yong Sung/Chung Jae Hee (Korea) 15-10, 15-5
Kim Dong Moon/Park So Yun (Korea) beat Agung/Anastasia (Indonesia) 15-6, 15-9

QUARTERFINALS
MEN'S SINGLES
Sun Jun (China) beat Marleve Mainaky (Indonesia) 5-15, 15-3, 15-2
Indra Wijaya (Indonesia) beat George Rimarodi (Indonesia) 15-1, 15-5
Ardy Wiranata (Indonesia) beat Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia) 15-17, 15-9, 15-6
Heryanto Arbi (Indonesia) beat Jason Wong (Malaysia) 2-15, 15-4, 15-7

WOMEN'S SINGLES
Gong Zhichao (China) beat Yu Hua (China) 11-3, 11-7
Kim Ji Hyun (Korea) beat Judith Meulendijks (Netherlands) 11-7, 12-10
Zhang Ning (China) beat Lee Joo Hyun (Korea) 11-4, 11-7
Mia Audina (Indonesia) beat Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand) 11-1, 11-5

MEN'S DOUBLES
Budiarto Sigit/Chandra Wijaya (Indonesia) beat John Quinn/Nick Ponting (England) walkover
Halim/Da(h)vis (Indonesia) beat Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook (Malaysia) 15-12, 15-8
Eng Hian/Hermono (Indonesia) beat Yap Wee Meng/Tan Soo Sen (Malaysia) 15-11, 15-9
Yoo Yong Sung/Lee Dong Soo (Korea) beat Victo Wibowo/Tony Gunawan (Indonesia) 15-8, 15-9

WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Gun Jun/Ge Fei (China) beat Park So Yun/Cha Yoon Sook (Korea) 15-1, 15-3
Huang Nanyan/Liu Zhong (China) beat Yoshiko Iwata/Haruko Matsuda (Japan) 15-2, 15-6
Yim Kyung Jin/Chung Jae Hee (Korea) beat Liu Lu/Qian Hong (China) 10-15, 15-9, 15-7
Indarti Isoliana/Denyana Lomban (Indonesia) beat Yu Hua/Zhou Mi (China) 15-3, 15-11

(jpcf/mig)