ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: CHINESE LADIES SHOW DEPTH

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS REPORT is presented by badminton world champions YANG YANG (1987 and 1989) and ZHAO JIAN HUA (1991) and by YANG YANG BADMINTON PRODUCTS **

September 5, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - China showed off the depth of its corps of lady badminton shuttlers yesterday at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the third round of women's singles competition at the Asian badminton championships. Yu Hua, fresh out of the junior ranks and a non-seed, eliminated top-seed Lee Joo Hyun of Korea in the biggest upset of the tourney thus far. Yu not only upended the top-seed but defeated her decisively in two lopsided games, 11-4 and 11-4.

Another unseeded Chinese player, Wu Huimin, also scored an upset victory. She came back from a humbling 1-11 first game setback to squeeze past the third seed, Yasuko Mizui of Japan.

Wu found her bearings after the change of ends, and she battled Mizui in two very closely contested sets with both second and third games going into three-point settings. Wu took the second at 12-9. The decider was a tense affair with both players having chances to win. In the end, it was Wu who prevailed 12-11.

The upset wins move Yu and Wu into the quarterfinals with teammates Yao Yan, the second seed, and Zeng Yaqiong, the fourth seed. Other players who gained the quarterfinals are Lidya Djaelawidjaya and Ellen Engelina of Indonesia, Huang Chia Chi of Taipei, and Lee Kyung Won of Korea.

In men's singles, top-seed Sun Jun of China had another easy day. He moved into the quarterfinals with an easy 15-1 and 15-4 fourth round victory over fifteenth seed Kim Hyung Joon of Korea.

Second seed Ardy Wiranata of Indonesia kept pace with Sun, although he had to fight hard to turn back Ismail Saman of Malaysia. Saman took the Indonesian to setting in the first two games before his endurance ran out. Wiranata dropped the first set 15-17 and then scrambled to stay in the match and take the second 18-15. Saman had very little left in the decider and Wiranata had an easier time in the third game, winning at 15-3.

Third seed Hermawan Susanto of Indonesia also had to battle to gain the quarterfinals. He split the first two games with tenth seeded Wong Choon Han of Malaysia. Susanto took the first 15-13 and Wong won the second 15-12. In the decider, the two played to a 13-all tie before Susanto was able to put the Malaysian away at 17-14.

Results of the other round-of-16 singles matches:

Men's Singles
George Rimarodi (Indonesia) beat M. Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) 15-5 and 15-10
Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia) beat Yong Hock Kin (Malaysia) 6-15, 15-6 and 17-14
Hendrawan (Indonesia) beat Jason Wong (Malaysia) 15-10 and 15-13
Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia) beat Xia Xuanze (China) 15-2 and 15-5
Lee Mou Chew (Taipei) beat Salim (Indonesia) 15-12, 9-15 and 15-7

Women's Singles
Huang Chia Chi (Taipei) beat Ng Ching (Hong Kong) 11-5 and 11-3
Zeng Yaqiong (China) beat Kyoko Komura (Japan) 11-7, 11-12 and 11-4
Lidya Djaelawidjaya (Indonesia) beat Lee Yin Yin (Malaysia) 11-4 and 11-2
Lee Kyung Won (Korea) beat Yuli Marfuah (Indonesia) 12-10, 7-11 and 11-8
Ellen Engelina (Indonesia) beat Kanako Yonekura (Japan) 11-8 and 11-6
Yao Yan (China) beat Lee Soon Deuk (Korea) 11-7 and 11-1

(jpcf/mig)