HONG KONG OPEN: TOP SEED GADE FALLS TO CHEN

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November 28, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Peter Gade of Denmark, the world number one in badminton men's singles, was forced to exit from the five-star Hong Kong Open championships when he lost to fourth seed Chen Gang of China in one of the semifinal matches played today, 10-15 and 9-15.

The Chinese player seemed to have taken his cue from Gade's quarterfinal match yesterday when the Dane was surprised by all-out, aggressive play from Ismail Saman and dropped the first game 10-15. Chen was the aggressor from the opening rally and was also the quicker of the two today.

After the match, Gade commented that he felt that Chen was the better player today and that the Chinese player was quicker to get to the shuttle than he was.

In the other men's singles semifinal, Indonesia's Budi Santoso beat Malaysian veteran Rashid Sidek 15-5 and 15-4. Santoso played an almost error-free match, while Sidek appeared tired and sluggish.

According to a member of Nusa Mahsuri, the professional team to which Sidek belongs, the Malaysian player was tired after playing two tough three-setters and yesterday's quarterfinal match. Sidek had been extended by Peter Janum in the second round and by Rosobin Jeffer in the round-of-16.

In women's singles, top seed Camilla Martin of Denmark ended Ling Wan Ting's surprising run of victories. Ling, the first Hong Kong player to reach the semifinals of a top-rated badminton tournament, fell to the Danish ace 4-11 and 8-11.

Lidya Djaelawidjaya of Indonesia won the other women's singles semifinal. She beat Chan Ya-Ling of Taiwan 11-6 and 13-10.

Results of the other semifinal matches:

Men's Doubles
Jens Eriksen/Jesper Larsen (Denmark) beat Flandy Limpele/Hian Eng (Indonesia) 15-7, 11-15, 15-8
Chandra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan (Indonesia) beat Peter Axelsson/Par-Gunnar Jonsson (Sweden) 15-8, 15-9

Women's Doubles
Chen Lin/Jiang Xuelian (China) beat Ann Jorgensen/Majken Vange (Denmark) 15-10, 15-6
Qian Hong/Liu Lu (China) beat Joanne Goode/Donna Kellogg (England) 12-15, 15-7, 17-15

Mixed Doubles
Simon Archer/Joanne Goode (England) beat Bambang Suprianto/Resiana Zelin (Indonesia) 15-10, 15-8
Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Nathan Robertson/Joanne Davies (England) 15-9, 15-7

(mc/ds)