DUTCH OPEN: DUTCH TEENAGER TAKES SINGLES CROWN

** 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 **

October 12, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Judith Meulendijks, a 19-year old from the Netherlands, today became the first of the current group of world-class junior players to make a mark on the International Badminton Federation tournament circuit when she took the women's singles title at the Dutch Open in 'sHertogenbosch. In today's championship match, the top-seeded Meulendijks defeated the third seed, Kelly Morgan of Wales, in three games, 11-9, 6-11 and 11-8.

The teenager is also the first Dutch player in 8 years to win a women's singles title on the world badminton tour.

The Netherlands though did not get a Dutch double because her teammates Erica van den Heuvel and Monique Hoogland were turned back in their bid to take the women's doubles crown. Van den Heuvel and Hoogland, top picks in the event, were beaten in the last championship match of the day by Kelly Morgan and her Danish partner, Pernille Harder, 9-15 and 11-9.

Morgan and Harder's victory came as a surprise because the Welsh player was not initially entered to play the women's doubles event but was drafted at the last minute as a substitute for Mette Schjoldager, Harder's original partner.

Earlier in the afternoon, Denmark's Jonas Rasmussen and Ann Lou Jorgensen won the mixed doubles title, beating qualifiers Lars Paske and Jane Bramsen, also from Denmark, 15-12 and 15-6. Rasmussen and Jorgensen were the third seeds.

In the men's singles final, top-seed Wong Choon Hann from Malaysia defeated the sixth-seeded Oliver Pongratz of Germany 15-10 and 15-11.

The men's doubles top seeds Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen from Denmark were surprised by the second picks from England, Nick Ponting and John Quinn, in the opening game of their championship match. The English pair hammered their way to a 15-7 first set win over the newly-crowned German Open champions. But Eriksen and Larsen battled back and the two Danes subdued Ponting and Quinn in the next two sets, 15-8 and 15-6, to add the Dutch Open title to their growing collection.

(dsimmons)