THOMAS and UBER CUPS: WORLD CHAMPION RASMUSSEN INJURED

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February 18, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Peter Rasmussen of Denmark, who surprised the world in June last year by winning the world men's singles title in badminton, was injured yesterday at the Thomas and Uber Cups (world men's and women's team championships) European zone qualifying tournament in Sandefjord, Norway. Rasmussen was practicing his strokes before the start of his match with Norway's Borge Larsen when he turned his ankle and suffered ligament damage. The injury knocked Rasmussen out of the tournament and possibly also out of the prestigious All-England championships, badminton's equivalent of Wimbledon, scheduled for mid-March.

Rasmussen's place in the match was taken by Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, who disposed of the Norwegian 15-9 and 15-9.

Denmark went on to whitewash the Norwegian men's team 5-0 in the opening rubber of the second round.

Earlier this week, 8 men's teams and 7 women's teams made it out of the first round in Sandefjord and into the next phase. Portugal, Iceland, Poland, the U.S.A., Finland, Norway, Scotland and Switzerland were the successful men's teams. Norway, Ukraine, Wales, Switzerland, Poland, Ireland and the U.S.A. were the women's teams making it into the second round.

The men's teams from Denmark, Russia, England, Germany, Netherlands, Ukraine, Sweden and Bulgaria were seeded directly into the second round. Women's team seeds include Denmark, Bulgaria, France, Netherlands, Russia, England, Scotland, Sweden and Germany.

In the Asian zone qualifier being held in Manila, Philippines, the men's teams from Singapore, Thailand and Canada gained places in the second round joining the seeds from China, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Japan.

The women's teams from Singapore and Malaysia won out in the first round and joined China, Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan and Canada in second phase competition.

Second Round Results:

Tuesday at Sandefjord
Thomas Cup
Group W: Denmark 5 Norway 0, Russia 3 Scotland 0
Group X: England 4 Finland 1, Germany 3 Switzerland 2
Group Y: Netherlands 4 Portugal 1, Ukraine 5 Iceland 0
Group Z: Bulgaria 3 United States 2, Sweden 4 Poland 1
Uber Cup
Group W: Bulgaria 3 Norway 2, Denmark 5 France 0
Group X: Netherlands 5 Ukraine 0, Russia 5 Switzerland 0
Group Y: England 4 Wales 1, Scotland 4 Poland 1
Group Z: Sweden 5 Ireland 0, Germany 4 USA 1

Wednesday at Sandefjord
Thomas Cup
Group W: Denmark 4 Scotland 1, Norway 3 Russia 2
Group X: England 5 Switzerland 0, Germany 4 Finland 1
Group Y: Netherlands 4 Iceland 1, Ukraine 3 Portugal 2
Group Z: Sweden 5 USA 0, Bulgaria 4 Poland 1
Uber Cup
Group W: Denmark 5 Norway 0, Bulgaria 3 France 2
Group X: Netherlands 5 Switzerland 0, Ukraine 3 Russia 2
Group Y: England 5 Poland 0, Scotland 4 Wales 1
Group Z: Sweden 5 USA 0, Germany 5, Ireland 0

Wednesday at Manila (partial)
Thomas Cup
Group Y: Malaysia 5 Thailand 0, Japan 3 Singapore 2
Uber Cup
Group X: China 5 New Zealand 0, Japan 5 Malaysia 0

(mcoe/dsimmons)