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UBER CUP FINALS: INDONESIA IN 3-2 SQUEAKER OVER THE DUTCH

May 17, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - The Indonesian coaching staff may have taken the team from the Netherlands too lightly when they submitted their lineup for today's tie. They chose to sit out ace singles player Susi Susanti and to try out two different doubles combinations. This proved almost disastrous for the Indonesian side, since the Dutchwomen put up a stiff fight this afternoon and took the third and fourth matches, leaving the outcome of the tie in the rookie hands of Ellen Engelina in the fifth match.

Mia Audina had staked the Indonesian side to a 1-0 lead with an 11-2 and 11-7 pasting of Judith Meulendijks. The second game in the match that followed was a precursor of things to come. Eliza (Nathanael) and Denyana Lomban, one of the two combinations that the Indonesian coaches were trying, had an easy first game against Erica Van den Heuvel and Monique Hoogland, winning at 15-7. In the second set, however, the two Dutch women played the Indons into setting at 14-all. Eliza and Lomban managed to pull out the victory at 17-15.

In the second singles, the tide turned for the Dutch. Brenda Beenhakker put on an aggressive attacking style against Meiluawati. Her stinging and sharp smashes got her past early Meiluawati leads and she beat the Indonesian player 9-12, 11-5 and 11-7.

Nicole Van Hooren and Lotte Jonathans followed the Beenhakker victory with an 18-15, 3-15 and 15-9 win over Finarsih and Indarti Isoliana to put the Dutch into a tie with the Indonesians at 2 matches apiece.

The outcome of the tie was then in the hands of two rookies, Ellen Engelina of Indonesia and Lonneke Janssen of the Netherlands. It was Engelina who got the advantage early as she moved the nervous and slower Janssen all over the court with a variety of shots. Engelina kept the pressure on Janssen the rest of the way and she took the crucial fifth match 11-2 and 11-7.

In the other afternoon tie, Korea defeated England 4 matches to 1. Kim Ji Hyun beat Julia Mann 11-2 and 11-2, Ra Kyung Min and Jang Hye Ock defeated Joanne Goode and Donna Kellogg 15-9 and 15-7, and Lee Joo Hyun laboured past Tracy Hallam 11-2, 8-11 and 12-10 to clinch the tie for Korea. Kim Shin Young and Chung Jae Hee were then defeated by Joanne Davies and Sarah Hardaker 14-17 and 2-15. In the final match, Lee Soon Deuk beat Tracy Dineen 12-10 and 11-7.

China got past Japan in the evening session 4 matches to 1. The Japanese got their lone point in the second singles when China's Gong Zhichao, the world number two, failed to adjust to the drift in the second game and then lost her confidence and her touch. She suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Yasuko Mizui 11-4, 1-11 and 3-11.

World singles champion Ye Zhaoying led off for the Chinese when she beat Kanako Yonekura 11-5 and 11-7. World doubles champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun followed with a 15-2 and 15-6 trouncing of Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsuda. Gong then lost to Mizui, leaving it to Qiang Hong and Liu Lu to score the clincher with a 15-5 and 15-10 win over Hiroko Nagamine and Satomi Igawa.

Han Jingna finished for the Chinese with her 11-4 and 11-0 crushing of Chikako Ohsaka 11-4 and 11-0.

Also this evening, Denmark beat Hong Kong 4 matches to 1. Camilla Martin beat Koon Wai Chee 11-1 and 11-8 in the opening match. Ling Wan Ting then upset Mette Pedersen 11-6, 9-12 and 3-11 to put Hong Kong into a 1-all tie with Denmark. Rikke Olsen and Marlene Thomsen then put things right for the Danes. The Danish pair defeated Koon Wai Chee and Tung Chau Man 15-10 and 15-7 to put the Danes ahead again.

Mette Sorensen then scored the clincher for Denmark when she beat Ng Ching 11-5 and 11-3.

Ann Jorgensen and Majken Vange closed out the Hong Kong side with their 18-13 and 15-9 defeat of Ling Wan Ting and Chan Mei Mei.

With their victories today, China and Denmark booked the two semifinal places out of Group A. Korea and Indonesia took the semifinal spots allotted to Group B. Tuesday's ties between China and Denmark and between Korea and Indonesia wii decide the semifinal matchups with the Group A winner playing the Group B runner-up and the Group B winner facing off against the Group A runner-up.

(mcoe/dsimmons)