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KOREAN OPEN: STUER BEATS HOYER TO GAIN SEMIS

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is presented by YANG YANG Badminton Products and their Western USA agents BADMINTON ALLEY. **

January 16, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Thomas Stuer of Denmark, one of two Danish badminton men's singles aces making a comeback attempt after an injury-filled 1998, yesterday (January 15) defeated 1996 Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer at the Korean Open in Seoul and booked a spot in today's semifinals. Stuer, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist who had had to have two ankle operations last year, beat his third-seeded compatriot in two games 15-10 and 15-12.

Stuer will face the surprise player of the tournament so far, young Johan Hadi Kusuma of Indonesia, in his half of the semifinals. Kusuma upset Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark yesterday 15-9, 11-15 and 15-13.

The other Danish comeback kid, world champion Peter Rasmussen, also won a place in the semifinals. Rasmussen, showing more and more of the dynamic jumpsmashing style of play with which he won the world title in 1997, easily overwhelmed Korean qualifier Jun Jong Bae 15-6 and 15-4.

Rasmussen's semifinal opponent will be Fung Permadi of Taiwan. Permadi put out Sweden's Henrik Bengtsson in his quarterfinal match 15-6 and 15-7.

Other quarterfinal results:

Women's Singles
Camilla Martin (Denmark) beat Zhang Ning (China) 11-5, 13-12
Gong Ruina (China) beat Dai Yun (China) 11-5, 11-8
Zhou Mi (China) beat Lee Soon Deuk (Korea) 9-11, 11-1, 11-5
Lee Joo Hyun (Korea) beat Meiluawati (Indonesia) 11-2, 9-11, 11-9

Men's Doubles
Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian (Indonesia) beat Victo Wibowo/Lee Wei-Jen (Taiwan) 15-4, 15-5
Liu Yong/Yu Jinhao (China) beat Julian Robertson/Nathan Robertson (England
Jesper Larsen/Jens Eriksen (Denmark) beat Tan Kim Her/Rosman Razak (Malaysia) 15-4, 15-7
Cheah Soon Kit/Choong Tan Fook (Malaysia) beat Chandra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan (Indonesia) 15-11, 15-13

Women's Doubles
Yang Wei/Huang Nanyan (China) beat Haruko Matsuda/Yoshiko Iwata (Japan)
Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Indarti Isolina/Carmelita (Indonesia) 17-15, 15-3
Ge Fei/Zhang Ning (China) beat Mette Schjoldager/Ann-Lou Jorgensen (Denmark) 15-6, 15-10
Qin Yiyuan/Gao Ling (China) beat Chung Jae Hee/Yim Kyung Jin (Korea)

Mixed Doubles
Ha Tae Kwon/Chung Jae Hee (Korea) beat Jesper Larsen/Ann-Lou Jorgensen (Denmark) 17-16, 15-2
Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min (Korea) won their quarterfinal match
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) won their quarterfinal match
Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Ji Xinpeng/Huang Nanyan (China) 15-4, 15-2

(mc/ds)

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