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KOREAN OPEN: EXPERIENCE BEATS YOUTH; YOUTH BEATS EXPERIENCE

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

January 16, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - The men's singles and women's singles semifinals at the Korean Open badminton championships in Seoul this afternoon went in two opposite directions. Experience overcame youth in men's singles action while youth defeated experience in the women's singles matches.

31-year old Fung Permadi of Taiwan used his "soft" style to beat the dynamic attacking play of world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark in one men's singles semifinal and 27-year old Thomas Stuer of Denmark recovered from a first game trouncing to defeat the young up-and-comer from Indonesia, Johan Hadi Kusuma. Both Rasmussen and Kusuma are in their early twenties.

The Permadi-Rasmussen match was a battle of contrasting styles. The player from Taiwan used an uncanny ability to softly block Rasmussen's booming jumpsmashes and smoothly and deftly place the shuttle to the four corners of the opposite court, while Rasmussen applied his dynamic, high-action style with leaping lefthanded overhead shots combined with quick rushes to the front.

The two exchanged wins in the first two games with Permadi taking the first 15-9 and Rasmussen storming to victory in the second 15-5.

In the decider, Permadi's soft, relaxed style effectively countered the younger Dane's boomers and his controlled placements often forced Rasmussen into hitting the shuttle into the net or just out of bounds. Permadi threw some sliced crosscourt smashes into the mix and soon had control of the game at the change of ends 8-2.

When Rasmussen regained the service, he changed to a backhand short service. The adjustment threw Permadi off and the Dane rattled off several quick points to close in at 6-10.

A Permadi smash to Rasmussen's body ended the Danish streak. Permadi then scored after a brief rally with an angled half-smash to put the score at 11-6. The Dane got the service back with a crackling winner. Rasmussen then focused his shots on Permadi's backhand. He lofted the shuttle three times to the Taiwanese player's backhand, each time eliciting a weaker reply until he got a loose return that he killed at the net. The scoreline at this juncture: 7-11.

In the next rally, Rasmussen again focused on Permadi's backhand. This time though, Permadi was able to shoot the shuttle to the Dane's backcourt. The Danish player went to his jumpsmashing strokes but Permadi's soft blocks to the net area soon forced Rasmussen into a net error.

Permadi notched his twelfth on a similiar rally, Rasmussen jumpsmashing and Permadi defending. This one ended when Rasmussen struck the shuttle slightly wide. A return error by the Dane on a short serve gave Permadi his thirteenth point and shortly he had match point on a jumping smash to the sideline.

Rasmussen fought off match point twice, once with excellent defense as the Taiwanese player tried to finish the match with attacking play and another time on an overlong Permadi lift.

The Taiwanese player was not to be denied the third time. Rasmussen sent the shuttle to Permadi's backhand. Permadi replied with a backhand fast drop. The Dane had anticipated the return and attacked the shuttle with a crosscourt drive. Alas though, he hit the missile too hard and sent it wide, giving the victory to Permadi at 15-7.

In the Stuer-Kusuma semifinal, Stuer started off well early, scoring several times on the seemingly nervous Indonesian youngster to gain a 5-2 lead. His advantage though was short-lived as Kusuma, the brother of 1992 Olympic champion Alan Budi Kusuma, began to attack and direct fast shots into the tall Dane's body. Kusuma mixed in some drops and net shots and soon he had the first game in hand at 15-5.

Stuer adjusted to Kusuma's tactics in the second and began to move around the court quicker, getting to the young Indonesian's shots and using his reach to shoot steeply-angled replies at Kusuma. Stuer took the second 15-9 and the decider 15-11 to book his place in tomorrow's final.

In the women's singles, youth beat experience as the reigning world junior champion from China, Gong Ruina, stunned world number one Camilla Martin of Denmark with an upset victory 11-6 and 13-11. In the other semifinal ,another Chinese player just out of the junior ranks, Zhou Mi, also scored an upset victory. She defeated Lee Joo Hyun of Korea 11-8 and 11-7.

Results of the semifinals in the other events:

Men's Doubles
Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian (Indonesia) beat Liu Yong/Yu Jinhao (China) 15-9, 15-8
Jesper Larsen/Jens Eriksen (Denmark) beat Cheah Soon Kit/Choong Tan Fook (Malaysia) 8-15, 15-13, 15-10

Women's Doubles
Yang Wei/Huang Nanyan (China) beat Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 13-15, 15-11, 17-16
Ge Fei/Zhang Ning (China) beat Qin Yiyuan/Gao Ling (China) 15-7, 15-5

Mixed Doubles
Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min (Korea) beat Ha Tae Kwon/Chung Jae Hee (Korea) 15-6, 17-14
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) beat Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 14-17, 15-13, 15-13

(mc/ds)

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