WORLD CUP: TOP DANES, SIDEK OUT; USA'S HAN NOT LISTED

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August 11, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - The top Danish badminton players have declined invitations to play at the upcoming Sanyo World Cup invitational tournament scheduled for Yogjakarta, Indonesia from August 20 to August 24, including world men's singles champion Peter Rasmussen and Olympic men's singles gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen.

Rasmussen has not played in a major tournament since winning the world title in early June. He is reportedly suffering from an injury sustained in a training sesion.

Hoyer-Larsen also has not played since the world championships in late May and early June. Hoyer is said to have played during the world championships with a foot injury and is now giving the foot time to heal properly. The Olympic champion though has continued to train at the English National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes.

Other top Danes that have declined their World Cup invitations are Jens Eriksen and Marlene Thomsen, the world championships mixed doubles silver medalists, Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard, one of the top Danish men's doubles pairs, and the highly-rated women's doubles team of Rikke Olsen and Helene Kirkegaard. The pair of Marlene Thomsen and Lisbet Stuer-Lauridsen also declined as did singles players Peter Gade-Christensen, the rising Danish star and winner of the Taipei Open earlier this year, Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen, world-ranked at number 10 in men's singles and winner of the Korean Open, and Camilla Martin, world-ranked at number 6 in women's singles and the Swiss Open champion.

Malaysia's men's singles ace Rashid Sidek was invited but will not be able to compete due to a hairline fracture in one of his shins.

Korea's Park Sung Woo, ranked fifth in the world, and Taipei's Fung Permadi, the World Grand Prix champion, are some of the other top men's singles players who will not be competing.

Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, the Malaysian men's doubles pair who took the silver medal at the world championships and who are ranked number two in the world, are also not playing at the World Cup. Yap had a shoulder operation after the world championships and is not expected to return to action until December this year.

China's top players, though, will be participating. World champions Ye Zhaoying (women's singles), Ge Fei and Gu Jun (women's doubles) and the pair of Liu Yong and Ge Fei (mixed doubles) are all slated to play in Yogjakarta. They will be joined by Dong Jiong, ranked number one in the world in men's singles, and Sun Jun, the world championships men's singles silver medalist.

Host country Indonesia will be represented by their top players like Chandra Wijaya and Budiarto Sigit, the current world men's doubles champions, Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, the Olympic men's doubles gold medalists, Heryanto Arbi, the 1995 world men's singles champion, Joko Suprianto, the 1993 world men's singles champion, Susi Susanti, the 1992 Olympic women's singles gold medalist and 1993 world champion, and also Mia Audina, the 1996 Olympic women's singles silver medalist.

Indonesian Ardy Wiranata, the 1992 Olympic men's singles medalist, will also be competing. Wiranata was named late last week as the replacement for Rashid Sidek.

Because the top Danish men's singles players had declined their invitations and also because entries from a single country were limited to a maximum of three in each of the singles events, the invitation list includes players ranked as low as number 39 (Martin Lundgard-Hansen of Denmark) in men's singles and number 43 (Takako Ida of Japan) in women's singles.

The USA's Kevin Han who finished in the round-of-16 at the recent world championships and who is ranked number 32 in men's singles, did not make the list of World Cup competitors. Players who are ranked behind Han but who made the World Cup roster include Soren Nielsen of Denmark, ranked 34, Hwang Sun Ho of Korea, ranked 38, Pullela Gopichand of India, ranked 37, and the 39-ranked Hansen.

According to knowledgeable badminton sources, Nielsen and Hansen were named as substitutes for their compatriots Hoyer and Rasmussen. Hwang is the Korean substitute for Park Sung Woo, while Gopichand may have been picked because he had made the finals of the Indian Open earlier this year. Ida, the 43rd-ranked women's singles player, is the Japanese substitute for her sixteenth-ranked compatriot, Yasuko Mizui.

The roster for the Sanyo World Cup:

Men's Singles
Dong Jiong (China), Heryanto Arbi (Indonesia), Sun Jun (China), Joko Suprianto (Indonesia), Ardy Wiranata (Indonesia), Indra Wijaya (Indonesia), Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia), Luo Yigang (China), Tam Kai Chuen (Hong Kong), Darren Hall (England), Jeroen van Dijk (Netherlands), Thomas Johansson (Sweden), Soren B. Nielsen (Denmark), Pullela Gopichand (India), Hwang Sun Ho (Korea), and Martin Lundgaard-Hansen (Denmark)

Women's Singles
Ye Zhaoying (China), Susi Susanti (Indonesia), Gong Zhichao (China), Mia Audina (Indonesia), Wang Chen (China), Kim Ji Hyun (Korea), Lee Joo Hyun (Korea), Cindana Hartono (Indonesia), Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand), Marina Andrievskaya (Sweden), Judith Meulendijks (Netherlands), and Takako Ida (Japan)

Men's Doubles
Chandra Wijaya/Budiarto Sigit (Indonesia), Lee Dong Soo/Yoo Yung Sung (Korea), Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky (Indonesia), Choong Tan Fook/Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia), Andreij Antropov/Nikolaj Zuev (Russia), Tao Xiaoqiang/Ge Cheng (China), Peter Axelsson/Par-Gunnar Jonsson (Sweden), and Simon Archer/Chris Hunt (England)

Women's Doubles
Ge Fei/Gu Jun (China), Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu (China), Rosiana Zelin/Eliza (Indonesia), Indarti Isolina/Denyana Lomban (Indonesia), Nicola Beck/Joanne Davies (England), and Chen Li-Chin/Tsai Huey-Min (Taiwan)

Mixed Doubles
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China), Trikus Heryanto/Minarti Timur (Indonesia), Imam Tohari/Ema Ermawati (Indonesia), Limpele Flandy/Rosalina Riseu (Indonesia), Peter Axelsson/Catrine Bengtsson (Sweden), and Michael Keck (Germany)/Erica van den Heuvel (Netherlands)

(mc/mg)