DANISH OPEN: DONG JIONG OVERCOMES GADE IN FINALS

** 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 19, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Dong Jiong of China outplayed young Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark in the crucial moments of their championship match to lift the four-star Danish Open badminton men's singles title this afternoon in Vejle. Dong, the third seed, and Gade, the fourth pick, battled evenly for most of the final, but Dong's deceptive strokes and powerful shots wore down the young Danish player and forced him into crucial errors in the closing exchanges.

Dong and Gade had played to a 14-all standstill in the first game. The two had attacked and counterattacked at each other throughout the game. Dong's defense was spectacular in the early going, turning away Gade's smashes with high blocks to the backline or slow, soft blocks just over the net. Towards the end of the first game though, Dong played defensively too often and Gade capitalized with smashes and kills.

In the 3-point tiebreaker, Gade eked out a 17-15 win.

The second was for the most part another standoff until at 10-all, Dong scored a flurry of points primarily on several Gade mistakes - smashes that hit the net and shots that went out of bounds. Dong took the second 15-11.

In the decider, Dong raced to a 6-0 advantage before Gade recovered. The young Dane came back and played hard and well, until Dong's shotmaking again induced several errors in the endgame. Dong took the third 15-12.

Dong's victory today spoiled Denmark's efforts to sweep the titles at their own Open badminton championships, although Danish players did capture four of the five crowns at stake.

In the women's doubles final, the veteran Ann Jorgensen and the youthful Majken Vange, seeded fifth, defeated Japan's Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsuda 18-16 and 15-5.

Top-seeded Camilla Martin won her third consecutive women's singles Open title when she decisively beat her fourth-seeded teammate Mette Pedersen 11-2 and 11-8. Martin, winer of the recent U.S. and German Open tournaments, was scarcely troubled in the first game, racing to a 6-0 lead before Pedersen tallied her first point. She let up in the second while Pedersen picked up her effort and pace. Martin though was too skilled and too strong for Pedersen to contend with.

In the men's doubles championship match, top-seeds Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard beat fourth-seeded compatriots Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen. The two Danish pairs smashed and blasted the shuttle hard at each other in the opening game, with Eriksen and Larsen coming out on top in a tiebreak 3-0 (or a game score of 17-14).

The top picks came back in the second set and won, going away 15-8.

In the decider, the two pairs were at their smashing best again and played each other to a 13-all deuce before Holst and Sogaard managed to grab victory at 18-13 (5-0 in the tiebreak).

In the mixed doubles final played last evening, Jens Eriksen and Marlene Thomsen, the number one entry, defeated second seeds Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen, another Danish pair, 15-6 and 18-14.

(mcoe/dsimmons)