HONG KONG OPEN: WONG EWEE MUN MAY BE FOR REAL

** 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 31, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Malaysia's Wong Ewee Mun may be for real. The unseeded and little-known men's singles player continued his giant-killing run today at the 170,000 US Dollar Hong Kong Open when he defeated the number five seed from Indonesia, Budi Santoso, 15-8 and 15-8 in a quarterfinal match.

Wong who sits at number 223 in the International Badminton Federation ranking list had upended the eleventh-seeded Kevin Han in a three-game match yesterday 7-15, 15-6 and 15-1. With his second upset win posted today, Wong moves into the semifinals of this five-star event where he will face the fourth seed, Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark.

Meanwhile, world number one Peter Gade Christensen, another Dane, also gained a spot in the semifinals. Gade, the second pick at this tournament behind the absent Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, beat the defending Hong Kong Open champion Fung Permadi of Taipei.

Fung though was no pushover. The defending champion gave the world number one some problems specially in the second game and extended Gade to a third game. However, Fung faded in the decider and lost 11-15, 15-7 and 4-15.

Gade will face world champion Peter Rasmussen, still another of Denmark's men's singles fearsome foursome. Rasmussen, the third seed, eliminated Tam Kai-chuen of Hong Kong, the twelfth pick, 15-2 and 15-9, in his quarterfinal match today.

In women's singles, three unseeded Chinese second-stringers continued to make a mockery of the seedings by gaining the semifinals. Zhu Yunyi, Wu Huimin and Gong Ruina all won their quarterfinals today. Only the second seed, the Korean Lee Kyung-won, remains in contention out of the eight seeds that started.

Some of today's results (incomplete):

Men's Singles
Quarterfinals
Wong Ewee Man (Malaysia) beat 5-Budi Santoso (Indonesia) 15-8, 15-8
4-Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (Denmark) beat Chang Jeng-shyuang (Taipei) 15-6, 15-4
3-Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat 12-Tam Kai-chuen (Hong Kong) 15-2, 15-9
2-Peter Gade Christensen (Denmark) beat 6-Fung Permadi (Taipei) 15-11, 7-15, 15-4

Women's Singles
Quarterfinals
Zhu Yunyi (China) beat Park Yoon-kyung (Korea) 12-10, 1-11, 11-6
Wu Huimin (China) beat Koon Wai-chee (Hong Kong) 11-3, 6-11, 11-5
Gong Ruina (China) beat 8-Brenda Beenhakker (Netherlands) 12-11, 11-7
2-Lee Kyung-won (Korea) beat 6-Huang Chia-chi (Taipei) 11-5, 11-8

Men's Doubles
Quarterfinals
1-Thomas Stavngaard and Jim Laugesen (Denmark) beat 5-Siripong Siripul and Pramote Teerawiwatana (Thailand) 15-12, 5-15, 15-5
3-Hermono and Hian Eng (Indonesia) beat Tan Kim Her and Rosman Razak (Malaysia) 15-9, 15-11
2-Choong Tan Fook-Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia) bear Lee Hyun-il and Park Tae-sang (Korea) 15-6, 15-8
(one match unreported)

Women's Doubles
Quarterfinals
1-Liu Lu and Qian Hong (China) beat Ng Ching and Ling Wan-ting (Hong Kong) 15-1, 15-3
8-Kim Kyung-ran and Kang Mi-hwa (Korea) beat Woo Pui Kwan (Malaysia) and Pornsawan Plungwech (Thailand) 15-2, 15-1
(two matches unreported)

Mixed Doubles
Quarterfinals
1-Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min (Korea) beat Liu Kwok-wa and Koon Wai-chee (Hong Kong) 15-4, 15-4
Xie Min and Zhu Yunyi (China) beat 4-Tam Lok-tin and Ng Ching (Hong Kong) 15-5, 15-9
(two matches unreported)

(mcoe/jfontanilla/dsimmons)