GRAND PRIX FINALS: YE STOPS SUSI'S QUEST FOR SEVENTH TITLE

** 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 14, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - World champion Ye Zhaoying of China today defeated Indonesia's super player Susi Susanti in the women's singles championship match at the World Grand Prix Finals in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ye had a surprisingly easy victory over Susanti 11-4 and 11-4 to bag her second World Grand Prix title and US$18,700 in prize money.

Ye's victory stopped Susanti's quest for her seventh World Grand Prix Finals title, although the Indonesian does hold the record for the most championships at this tournament with 6 titles.

Ye was in great form today with her forehand overhead shots working almost perfectly, especially those heavily sliced dropshots and fast clears. On the other hand, Susanti seemed slow to react today, although it may have been the great shotmaking of Ye that made the Indonesian seem slow.

Ye easily took the first game 11-4 and zoomed to an unbelievable 10-0 lead in the second. Susanti tried to mount a rally and notched 4 points but her poor judgement of a Ye clear that landed in bounds gave the Chinese player the point that she needed to claim the World Grand Prix championship.

Ye's victory also made certain that China would leave the tournament of champions with four of the five titles. Liu Yong and Ge Fei had opened finals day with a win in the mixed doubles. Sun Jun had then beaten teammate Dong Jiong in the men's singles, and the women's doubles final that followed Ye's win was an all-China affair pitting world champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun against Qin Yiyuan and Tang Yongshu.

Only the men's doubles title lay outside China's reach with Indonesians Chandra Wijaya and Budiarto Sigit battling Malaysians Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock in the last final of the evening.

(jfontanilla/mcoe/dsimmons)