THAI OPEN: LEE AND YOO OVERCOME WORLD CHAMPIONS

** 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 **

November 16, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Koreans Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yung Sung overcame the world champions, Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya of Indonesia, today at the finals of the four-star Toyota Thailand Open badminton tournament in Bangkok to take the title in the men's doubles event home to Korea.

The second-seeds Lee and Yoo who match up well against the world champions in terms of quickness and power took advantage of an off-form Sigit Budiarto often during today's final. The two pairs had played even to a 7-all tie in the first game, but then the Korean duo seemed to sense that Budiarto was the weak link in the Indonesian partnership today. They began to direct lightning-fast drives and booming smashes at the wiry Indonesian to get outright scores or forced errors. This strategy paid off for the Koreans in the first game which they won 15-9.

In the second, Budiarto's play was still patchy and error-prone and the Koreans were able to race to a 9-1 advantage. Budiarto and Wijaya battled back to tie at 11-all and even moved ahead 14-11. The Koreans foiled the Indonesian attack at game point and then outplayed Budiarto and Wijaya to force deuce at 14-all. In the setting (tiebreak), Lee and Yoo got the better of the Indonesians 3-0 (17 -14) to close out the match.

Earlier in the afternoon, in the men's singles final, the eleventh-seed from Indonesia, Hendrawan, won his first championship in the major international badminton tournament circuit. Hendrawan defeated China's Chen Gang, a former world junior champion, 15-9 and 15-1.

Hendrawan and Chen exchanged points in the early going of the first game, but at 9-all, Hendrawan's mix of powerful smashes and delicate dropshots began to beat back the nervous challenge from the young Chinese player. Chen also did not help his cause any today with the many errors that he committed, particularly in the lopsided second game.

The Chinese contingent did get to go home with two championships. In the all-China women's singles final, Wang Chen easily defeated Zeng Yaqiong 11-3 and 11-6, while in the women's doubles championship match, top seeds Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu beat the third seeds, Eliza Nathanael and Resiana Zelin of Indonesia, 15-8 and 15-2.

In tne mixed doubles final played yesterday, Denmark's Michael Sogaard and Rikke Olsen, the third-seeded pair, defeated their top seeded teammates, Jens Eriksen and Marlene Thomsen, 15-5 and 15-3.

(mcoe/dsimmons)