JAPAN OPEN: SIDEK GIVES DONG JIONG THE BOOT

** 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 **

January 14, 1997 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Malaysia's veteran badminton star, Rashid Sidek, pulled off a major upset at the US 200,000 dollar Japan Open tournament today when he defeated the second-seeded Dong Jiong of China 15-8, 15-18 and 15-7 in second-round men's singles action. Sidek who was injured for most of last year played a tactically sound game against the deceptive power stroking style of the Chinese player in achieving his victory.

The Malaysian kept clearing the shuttle to Dong's backcourt in rally after rally in order to rob the Chinese player of his potent jumping strokes. The tactic worked well in the first game with Sidek winning by a 15-8 margin. In the second set, Sidek started to lose some length to his clears and Dong was able to unleash some scoring shots specially in the end game. The second frame went to deuce at 13-all with Dong taking the tiebreak 5-2 (game score of 18-15).

The change of ends at the start of the third set seemed to benefit Sidek and his deep clearing tactics as he again was able to place the shuttle deep into Dong's rearcourt where the Chinese player's power shots were less effective. Sidek won the third with some ease 15-7.

In another big upset in the men's singles event, 1997 world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark was defeated by Taiwanese veteran Liu Ern-hong. Rasmussen who was the defending Japan Open champion and who was a middle seed this year lost 15-18 and 12-15 to Liu. The world champion and Liu played a very close match with Liu using tactics similiar to Sidek in order to defang the powerful jump smashes of the Danish player. The two were tied 13-all in the first but it was Liu who was able to stop Rasmussen from scoring with deep clearing shots and to himself tally the important points. In the second, Rasmussen and Liu again were nip and tuck and were all knotted up at 12-all. Again it was Liu who was able to score the final points to seal his upset win.

Another men's singles world champion, Joko Suprianto of Indonesia who took the world title in 1993 was shown the exit door by Roslin Hashim of Malaysia 12-15 and 5-15. Hashim's upset win today was the second in a row for the young Malaysian. Yesterday, Hashim had upended the seeded Fung Permadi of Taiwan.

Men's singles top seed Peter Gade Christensen won his match against Wong Ewee Mun of Malaysia 15-1 and 15-10. Third seed Sun Jun of China beat Keita Masuda of Japan 15-3 and 15-7, while fourth seed Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark defeated Chen Wei of China in two close games 17-14 and 17-14.

In women's singles action, top seed Ye Zhaoying of China beat Kaori Mori of Japan 11-1 and 11-3. Second seed Gong Zhichao of China defeated Asuka Kuge of Japan 11-3 and 11-1. Third seed Mia Audina of Indonesia eliminated Yumi Akashi of Japan 11-5 and 11-5, and fourth seed Camilla Martin of Denmark beat Noriko Hori of Japan 11-1 and 11-1.

Results of today's matches:

Men's Singles 2nd Round -
1-Peter Gade Christensen (Denmark ) beat Wong Ewee Mun (Malaysia) 15-1, 15-10
Rikard Magnusson (Swe) beat Chen Gang (China ) 18-13, 2-15, 15-7
Marleve Mainaky (Indonesia ) beat Pulella Gopichand (India) 15-8, 15-6
Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia ) beat Naoshige Kataoka (Japan) 15-4, 15-6
3-Sun Jun (China ) beat Keita Masuda (Japan) 15-3, 15-7
Roslin Hashim (Malaysia) beat Joko Suprianto (Indonesia) 15-12, 15-5
Heryanto Arbi (Indonesia ) beat Ryo Nihei (Japan) 15-6, 15-3
Jeroen van Dijk (Netherlands ) beat Ji Xinpeng (China) 15-13, 1-15, 15-8
Luo Yigang (China ) beat Ismail Saman (Malaysia) 15-5, 15-10
Huang Yeu-der (Taiwan) beat Hendrawan (Indonesia ) walkover
Yong Hock Kin (Malaysia ) beat Hideki Yamada (Japan) 15-9, 15-2
4-Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark ) beat Chen Wei (China) 17-14, 17-14
Indra Wijaya (Indonesia ) beat Wong Choong Hann (Malaysia) 15-10, 15-4
Liu Ern-hong (Taiwan) beat Peter Rasmussen (Denmark ) 18-15, 15-12
Budi Santoso (Indonesia ) beat Tam Kai-chuen (Hong Kong) 15-10, 10-15, 15-13
Rashid Sidek (Malaysia) beat 2-Dong Jiong (China ) 15-8, 15-18, 15-7

Women's Singles 2nd Round -
1-Ye Zhaoying (China) beat Kaori Mori (Japan) 11-1, 11-3
Judith Meulenduks (Netherlands) beat Peng Ju-yu (Taiwan) walkover
Kim Ji-Hyun (Korea beat Fumi Iwawaki (Japan) 11-6, 11-3
Miho Tanaka (Japan) beat Pernille Harder (Denmark) 11-4, 11-4
4-Camilla Martin (Denmark ) beat Noriko Hori (Japan) 11-1, 11-1
Huang Chia-chi (Taiwan) beat Cindana (Indonesia) 11-7, 11-4
Dai Yun (China ) beat Naoko Miyake (Japan) 11-6, 11-3
Kyoko Komura (Japan) beat Hiroko Nagamine (Japan) 11-4, 11-2
Ng Ching (Hong Kong) beat Brenda Beenhakker (Netherlands) 4-11, 11-6, 12-10
Wang Chen (China ) beat Saori Ito (Japan) 11-4, 11-3
Kanako Yonekura (Japan) beat Lee Kyung-Won (Korea) 11-2, 9-11, 12-11
3-Mia Audina (Indonesia ) beat Yumi Akashi (Japan) 11-5 11-5
Hang Jingna (China) beat Julia Mann (Eng) 11-4, 11-5
Lee Joo-Hyun (Korea ) beat Miho Harutake (Japan) 11-7, 11-1
Takako Ida (Japan) beat Lidya Djaelawijaya (Indonesia) 4-11, 11-3, 11-2
2-Gong Zhichao (China ) beat Asuka Kuge (Japan) 11-3, 11-1

Men's Doubles 1st Round -
Keita Masuda/Tadashi Otsuka (Japan) beat Quinten Van Dalm/Dennis Lens (Netherlands) 11-15, 17-14, 15-5
Michael Sogaard/Jon Holst-Christensen (Denmark ) beat Rosman Razak/Tan Kim Her (Malaysia) 15-12, 15-9
Liu Yong/Zhang Wei (China) beat Takuya Takehana/Shinji Ota (Japan) 15-2, 15-10
4-Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock (Malaysia) beat Chen Wei/Ji Xinpeng (China) 13-15, 15-2, 15-8
Takuya Katayama/Yuzo Kubota (Japan) beat Lee Wei-jen/Lin Liang-chiun (Taiwan) 15-9, 11-15, 15-10
Ha Tae-Kwon/Kim Dong-Moon (Korea) beat Liu Kwok-wa/Ma Che-kong (Hong Kong) 15-6, 17-14
Norio Imai/Hiroshi Oyama (Japan) beat Nathan Robertson/Julian Robertson (England) 6-15, 15-11, 15-7
Par-Gunnar Jonsson/Peter Axelsson (Sweden) beat Tatsuya Hirai/Akihiro Kishida (Japan) 15-4, 15-7
Jesper Larsen/Jens Eriksen (Denmark) beat Liao Guo-maw/Liu En-hung (Taiwan) 15-4, 15-6
Chew Choon Eng/Lee Chee Leong (Malaysia) beat Akihiro Imai/Kazuhiro Honda (Japan) 15-9, 15-8
3-Rexy Mainaky/Ricky Subagja (Indonesia) beat Yau Kwun-yuen/Tam Kai-chuen (Hong Kong) 15-5, 15-8
Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook (Malaysia) beat Katsuya Nishiyama/Masahiro Yabe (Japan) 15-12, 8-15, 15-6
Antonius Iriantho/Denny Kantono (Indonesia) beat Tao Xiaoqiang/Ge Cheng (China) 15-9, 15-7
Pramote Teerawiwatana/Siripong Siripool (Thailand) beat Tseng Chung-ling/ Horng Shin-jeng (Taiwan) 15-8, 15-4
2-Yoo Yung-Sung/Lee Dong-Soo (Korea) beat Seiichi Watanabe/Fumihiko Machida (Japan) 15-12, 15-10

Women's Doubles 1st Round -
Yoshiko Iwata/Haruko Matsuda (Japan) beat Tsai Hui-min/Chen Li-chin (Taiwan) 15-12, 15-6
Junkuo Yamada/Yumi Akashi (Japan) beat Tung Chau-man/Ng Ching (Hong Kong) 15-5, 17-15
Gong Ruina/Ye Zhaoying (China) beat Naomi Murakami/Hiromi Yamada (Japan) 6-15, 15-9, 15-10
Rikke Olsen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Shizuka Yamamoto/Mayumi Ito (Japan) 15-7, 15-6
Joanne Goode/Donna Kellogg (England) beat Naomi Kawaguchi/Mayumi Watanabe (Japan) 15-8, 15-4
Kang Mi-Hwa/Lee Kyung-Won (Korea) beat Hiroko Nagamine/Satomi Igawa (Japan) 15-5, 15-2
Huang Nanyan/Liu Zhong (China) beat Pernille Harder/Helen Kirkegaard (Denmark) 15-4, 17-16
Chan Ya-lin/Chen Mei-jun (Taiwan) beat Yuko Ota/Chiemi Ishii (Japan) 15-7, 5-15, 18-15
4-Indarti Isolina/Denyana Lomban (Indonesia) beat Megumi Masuda/Miyuki Tai (Japan) 15-1, 15-6
Takae Masumo/Chikako Nakayama (Japan) beat Sara Sankey/Ella Miles (England) 15-8, 15-9
Cynthia Tuwankotta/Etty Tantri (Indonesia) beat Fumi Iwawaki/Asuka Kuge (Japan) 15-5, 12-15, 15-7
Chihiro Osaka/Kanako Yonekura (Japan) beat Chen Wan-ju/Jeng Shwun-ju (Taiwan) 15-7, 15-5

Mixed Doubles 1st Round -
Ha Tae-Kwon/Lee Kyung-Won (Korea) beat Liao Guo-maw/Chen Mei-jun (Taiwan) 15-8, 15-1
Fumitake Shimizu/Fujimi Tamura (Japan) beat Feng Horng-yun/Huang Chia-chi (Taiwan) 18-15, 15-5
Fumihiko Machida/Yasuko Mizui (Japan x5) beat Tseng Chung-ling/Chen Wan-ju (Taiwan) 15-12, 15-1
Chen Gang/Tang Yongshu (China) beat Nathan Robertson/Joanne Goode (England) 15-12, 15-7
Kim Hyung-Joon/Kang Mi-Hwa (Korea) beat Yau Kwun-yuen/Ng Ching (Hong Kong) 15-8, 15-11
Lee Wei-jen/Tsai Hui-min (Taiwan x5) beat Koji Miya/Yoshiko Tago (Japan) 9-15, 15-2, 15-2
Ge Cheng/Qin Yiyuan (China) beat Huang Yeu-der/Chan Ya-lin (Taiwan) 15-3, 15-7
Tao Xiaoqiang/Wang Chen (China) beat Chang Jeng-shyuang/Jeng Shwu-zen (Taiwan) 15-6, 15-11

(jpfont/dsimmons)