JAPAN OPEN: GADE, ARBI AND LUO STOP FROST'S MEN

** 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 16, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Top seed Peter Gade Christensen, 1995 world champions Heryanto Arbi and China's Luo Yigang today stopped three of the upset-conscious Malaysian men's singles players coached by Danish badminton great Morten Frost in quarterfinal action at the 200,000 US dollar Japan Open badminton championships and prevented an all-Malaysian semifinals.

Gade, the world number one from Denmark, beat Ong Ewe Hock 15-5 and 15-4, while Indonesia's Arbi, a middle seed at the tournament, defeated Roslin Hashim 15-11 and 15-10. Luo, a low seed, was an easy 15-5 and 15-1 winner over Yong Hock Kin.

The veteran Rashid Sidek was the only Malaysian to survive the men's singles quarterfinals. He defeated Liu En-horng of Taiwan 15-6 and 15-7 to earn a spot in the semifinals opposite Luo.

The other semifinal pits Gade against Arbi.

In women's singles, third seed Mia Audina of Indonesia and fourth seed Camilla Martin of Denmark were upset victims. Audina was soundly defeated by Wang Chen of China 3-11 and 6-11, while Martin was trounced by the left-handed Dai 6-11 and 1-11.

Martin was so frustrated by Dai's shotmaking during her quarterfinal match that she let out a scream when, with the score at 5-4 in her favor, Dai uncorked a dropshot that wrongfooted the Dane completely. Martin was never in the match after that rally.

Top seed Ye Zhaoying whipped Kim Ji-Hyun of Korea 11-4 and 11-3, and second seed Gong Zhichao came back from a slow start to beat Korean Lee Joo-Hyun 7-11, 11-3 and 11-6.

With their victories, the Chinese women guaranteed that the women's singles title will be taken by a Chinese player. Ye will play Dai and Gong will face Wang in an all-Chinese semifinals.

The doubles quarterfinals were highlighted by two upsets. The second-seeded men's doubles team of Yoo Yung-Sung and Lee Dong-Soo from Korea were beaten by Antonius Irianto and Denny Kantono of Indonesia 6-15 and 15-18, and the fourth-seeded women's doubles pair of Indarti Isolina and Denyana Lomban of Indonesia were trounced by China's Huang Nanyan and Liu Zhong 6-15 and 3-15.

Results of the other doubles quarterfinals:

Men's Doubles -
1-Chandra Wijaya/Budiarto Sigit (Indonesia) beat Michael Sogaard/Jon Holst-Christensen (Denmark) 16-17, 15-10, 15-6
4-Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock (Malaysia) beat Ha Tae-Kwon/Kim Dong-Moon (Korea) 4-15, 15-6, 15-5
3-Rexy Mainaky/Ricky Subagja (Indonesia) beat Jesper Larsen/Jens Eriksen (Denmark) 12-15, 15-7, 15-8

Women's Doubles -
1-Gu Jun/Ge Fei (China) beat Yoshiko Iwata/Haruko Matsuda (Japan) 15-2, 15-7
3-Zelin Resiana/Eliza Nathanael (Indonesia) beat Rikke Olsen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) 15-18, 15-4, 15-10
2-Tang Yongshu/Qin Yiyuan (China) beat Takae Masumo/Chikako Nakayama (Japan) 15-9, 15-4

Mixed Doubles -
1-Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Luo Yigang/Huang Nanyan (China) 18-17, 15-5
Chen Gang/Tang Yongshu (China) beat Fumitake Shimizu/Fujimi Tamura (Japan) 15-0, 15-4
3-Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Lee Wei-jen/Tsai Hui-min (Taiwan) 15-1, 15-1
2-Kim Dong-Moon/Ra Kyung-Min (Korea) beat Tao Xiaoqiang/Wang Chen (China) 15-3, 15-4

The doubles semifinal matchups:

Men's Doubles -
Wijaya/Sigit vs Cheah/Yap
Mainaky/Subagja vs Antonius/Kantono

Women's Doubles -
Ge/Gu vs Zelin/Eliza
Tang/Qin vs Huang/Liu

Mixed Doubles -
Eriksen/Thomsen vs Chen/Tang
Kim/Ra vs Sogaard/Olsen

(jpfont/dsimmons)