WORLD GRAND PRIX FINALS: TWO WORLD CHAMPION PAIRS DEFEATED

** 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 **

December 12, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - The world champions in men's doubles and in mixed doubles both went down to defeat yesterday in the round-robin phase of the World Grand Prix Finals of Badminton in Jakarta, Indonesia. Chandra Wijaya and Budiarto Sigit of Indonesia were beaten by Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia 10-15, 15-3 and 11-15 in a men's doubles matchup, while China's mixed doubles world champions Liu Yong and Ge Fei lost to Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia 17-14, 12-15 and 2-15.

Cheah and Yap who lost to Wijaya and Sigit in the world championships men's double final in early June had been given just a ghost of a chance against the world champions, but the Malaysian duo seemed very determined at the start of the match. The duo attacked their way to a 5-0 lead before the Indonesians got their bearings. Wijaya and Sigit began to channel their shots towards Yap and were able to battle back to a 6-all tie.

Cheah and Yap then steadied their play and pulled away to an 11-6 advantage. The Indonesians tried to mount another comeback but could not pull even again as the Malaysian pair smashed their way to a 15-10 first game win.

The Indonesians came out blasting in the second game. Wijaya and Sigit unloaded their power game at Cheah and Yap. After the Indonesians had raced to a sizeable lead, Cheah and Yap seemed to decide to conserve their energies for the third set and to try to tire the Indonesians out by going into a defensive style. Wijaya and Sigit took the second 15-3.

The Indonesians kept the momentum in the opening rallies of the decider as they gained the advantage at 3-2 and increased their lead to 5-2. Cheah and Yap then scored a string of 6 points to lead at 8-5 as they concentrated their play on an erratic Wijaya.

The Indonesians pulled even at 8-all and then went ahead on several Yap mistakes. Wijaya and Sigit pulled further ahead 11-8 before Cheah and Yap broke their scoreless streak.

The Malaysians began to gain the attack more often at this juncture and were able to smash their way to a tie and then the lead. Cheah and Yap kept up the attack and reached match point at 14-11.

The world champions were able to stop Cheah and Yap momentarily but the Malaysians regained the serve and then scored the match-winner at 15-11.

In the mixed doubles event, world champions Liu Yong and Ge Fei wilted in their match against home-crowd favorites Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur. Liu and Ge squeezed out a first game win at 17-14 but Liu then tired late in the second, allowing the Indonesians to take the second at 15-12 and a lopsided decider at 15-2.

In men's singles, the favorites - Peter Gade of Denmark, Sun Jun of China, Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark and Dong Jiong of China - all won to remain undefeated in the round-robin phase and strengthened their bids to move ahead into the semifinals on Saturday. However, they have tough matchups today.

Gade plays China's Luo Yigang who is also undefeated in Group A. Sun faces 1995 world champion Heryanto Arbi who has 1 win and 1 defeat. Dong battles current world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark who is also unbeaten, while Hoyer is matched up against Hermawan Susanto, also undefeated.

Yesterday's results:

MEN'S SINGLES:
Group A-
Peter Gade Christensen (Denmark) beat Budi Santoso (Indonesia) 15-12, 18-17
Luo Yigang (China) beat Allan Budi Kusuma (Indonesia) 18-13, 17-14
Group B-
Sun Jun (China) beat Marleve Mainaky (Indonesia) 15-8, 15-9 Heryanto Arbi (Indonesia) beat Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (Denmark) 7-15, 15-11, 18-14
Group C-
Dong Jiong (China) beat Ardy B. Wiranata (Indonesia) 15-13, 15-4
Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat Hendrawan (Indonesia) 6-15, 15-4, 15-13
Group D-
Poul-EriK Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark) beat Indra Wijaya (Indonesia) 15-11, 15-1
Hermawan Susanto (Indonesia) beat Chen Gang (China) 15-11, 9-15, 15-8

WOMEN'S SINGLES:
Group A-
Susi Susanti (Indonesia) beat Zhang Ning (China) 11-6, 11-6
Group B-
Zeng Yaqiong (China) beat Marina Andrievskaya (Sweden) 11-4, 9-11, 11-9
Group C-
Kim Ji Hyun (Korea) beat Yao Yan (China) 11-5, 0-11, 12-10
Group D-
Mia Audina (Indonesia) beat Wang Chen (China) 12-9, 7-11, 12-9

MEN'S DOUBLES:
Group A-
Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock (Malaysia) beat Chandra Wijaya/Budiarto Sigit (Indonesia) 15-11, 3-15, 15-11
Jon Holst-Christensen/Michael Sogaard (Denmark) beat Hermono/Eng Hian (Indonesia) 15-9, 15-7
Group B-
Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky (Indonesia) beat Jens Eriksen/Jesper Larsen (Denmark) 15-4, 11-15, 15-7
Denny Kantono/Antonius Budi Iriantho (Indonesia) beat Lee Dong Soo/Yoo Yung Sung (Korea) 15-2, 15-8

WOMEN'S DOUBLES:
Group A-
Ge Fei/Gu Jun (China) beat Indarti Isoliana/Denyana Lomban (Indonesia) 15-5, 15-6
Qiang Hong/Liu Lu (China) beat Haruko Matsuda/Yoshiko Iwata (Japan) 18-13, 17-14
Group B-
Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu (China) beat Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 15-5, 15-8
Liu Zhong/Huang Nanyan (Indonesia) beat Eliza Nathanael/Rosiana Zelin (Indonesia) 15-6, 15-18, 15-4

MIXED DOUBLES:
Group A-
Trikus Heryanto/Minarti Timur (Indonesia) beat Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) 14-17, 15-12, 15-2
Imam Tohari/Ema Ermawati (Indonesia) beat Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 14-15, 15-9, 15-2
Group B-
Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Sandiarto/Finarsih (Indonesia) 15-9, 15-9
Bambang Suprianto/Rosalina Riseu (Indonesia) beat Chris Hunt/Donna Kellogg (England) 17-14, 15-7

(fontanilla/dsimmons)