SAS BADMINTON TROPHY: HOYER AND DONG PICKED TO CLASH IN FINAL

** 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 29, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Amid stirring opening ceremonies, the SAS Badminton Trophy tournament began last night at the Messegelande in the city of Dornbirn in Austria. The competition pits 12 top men's singles players from Europe and Asia who have been invited to vie for the Golden Racket trophy as well as an expensive motorcycle and about US 20,000 dollars in prize money.

Top stars at the tournament this year include Olympic gold medalist and the defending champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark and Olympic silver medalist Dong Jiong of China. These two are picked to clash in Sunday's final which is being billed as the Olympic Rematch on the Bodensee (Dornbirn is located close to Lake Boden in western Austria - Editor).

The 12 players have been split into four groups of three players each. The groups will play in a round-robin, with the winners of each group moving into the semifinals on Sunday morning. The semifinal victors will play for the top prize on Sunday afternoon.

Results of last night's opening matches in group round-robin play:

Group Y
Pullela Gopichand (India) beat Thomas Wapp (Switzerland) 15-17, 15-3, 15-5
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark) had a bye
Group T
Wong Choon Hann (Malaysia) beat Jurgen Koch (Austria) 15-8, 15-11
Jens Olsson (Sweden) had a bye
Group R
Oliver Pongratz (Germany) beat George Rimarcdi (Indonesia) 15-8, 16-18, 15-8
Jeroen van Dijk (Netherlands) had a bye
Group W
Kenneth Jonassen (Denmark) beat Salim (Indonesia) 10-15, 15-4, 15-13
Dong Jiong (China) had a bye

(mcoe/dsimmons)