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TAIPEI OPEN: RED-HOT PERMADI TOPPLES HOYER

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

January 22, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Former Indonesian men's singles ace Fung Permadi, or Chen Feng as he is called in his adopted home country of Taiwan, continues to be the red-hot player on the international badminton tournament circuit. Permadi who won the men's singles title at the Korean Open last week disposed of the reigning Olympic champion Poul-Erik Hoyer of Denmark in two sets earlier today in quarterfinal action at the Taipei Open championships.

Permadi came from behind late in the second set to topple the third-seeded Dane. After he had taken the first game 15-8, Permadi struggled in the second against Hoyer's superb shotmaking and it looked like the match was headed for a third and deciding set when Hoyer scored his 13th point. Permadi though managed to come back as the Dane tired and hit a dry spell. The Taiwanese player rallied to tie the score at 13-all and then went on to win at 15-13.

Permadi's winning ways will be severely tested tomorrow in the semifinals when he has to battle the super-quick Sun Jun of China, currently one of the world's best players. Sun Jun had an easy quarterfinal victory today over Malaysia's Ong Ewe Hock. Sun beat Ong 15-6 and 15-5.

In the other men's singles quarterfinal matches, the tall and strong-wristed Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark, the number four seed at the tournament, blasted his way past Roslin Hashim of Malaysia 15-7 and 15-0, while Malaysian veteran Rashid Sidek survived the aggressive play of China's Chen Hong and beat the Chinese up-and-comer 15-7, 12-15 and 15-10.

Jonassen will play Sidek in tomorrow's other men's singles semifinal.

In the women's singles quarterfinals, newly-crowned Korean Open champion Zhou Mi of China continued her quest for a second consecutive major international title. Zhou defeated Taiwan's Huang Chia-Chi 11-7 and 11-1.

Zhou's senior teammate, Zhang Ning, put out Margit Borg of Sweden 11-5 and 11-2 to set up a semifinal clash with the Korean Open titleist.

Second seed Dai Yun, another of the many top Chinese women's players, beat Cindana Hartono Kusuma of Indonesia 11-7 and 11-2. In the semifinals, Dai will play Denmark's Mette Sorensen, the 13-12 and 13-10 winner of a sensational quarterfinal match over Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn of Thailand.

Ekmonkolpaisarn also suffered a second disappointment at Danish hands. She and partner Saralee Thunthongkam were defeated by Ann Jorgensen and Majken Vange 15-3 and 15-8 in one of the women's doubles quarterfinals.

Ekmongkolpaisarn's teammates Pramote Teerawiwatana and Siripong Siripol made up for her two defeats when they upended the top seeded world number one pair of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian of Indonesia 15-8 and 15-10 in the men's doubles quarterfinals.

Second seeds Cheah Soon Kit and Choong Tan Fook of Malaysia defeated Bambang Suprianto and Sandiarto of Indonesia 15-8 and 15-6. Denny Kantono and Antonius Budi Ariantho of Indonesia beat Denmark's Michael Sogaard and Jim Laugessen 15-5, 10-15 and 15-7, while Chandra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan, another of the top-rated Indonesian men's doubles combinations, eliminated the fourth-seeded Danish duo of Jens Eriksen and Jesper Larsen 15-10 and 15-6.

The Thailanders will play Kantono and Antonius in one of tomorrow's men's doubles semifinals while Cheah and Choong will face Wijaya and Gunawan.

In mixed doubles, Denmark's Jon Holst-Christensen, weakened by the flu but full of fighting spirit and badminton smarts, combined with partner Ann Jorgensen to beat Indonesia's Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur 8-15, 15-3 and 17-14. Heryanto and Timur had the match under control in the third set with a 12-6 lead but then the wily Holst and Jorgensen concentrated their play on Timur and exploited the woman player's weaknesses to come back and win the decider in a tiebreak.

Other unofficial quarterfinal results:

Women's Doubles
Huang Nanyan/Yang Wei (China) beat Mette Schjoldager/Ann-Lou Jorgensen (Denmark) 15-6, 11-15, 15-2
Helene Kirkegaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Indarti Isolina/Carmelita (Indonesia) 15-2, 6-15, 15-12
Qin Yiyuan/Gao Ling (China) beat Haruko Matsuda/Yoshiko Iwata (Japan) 15-4, 15-12

Mixed Doubles
Bambang Suprianto/Rosiana Zelin (Indonesia) beat Janek Roos/Helene Kirkegaard (Denmark) 17-15, 15-3
Wahyu Agung/Ema Ermawati (Indonesia) beat Michael Lamp/Mette Schjoldager (Denmark) 15-12, 15-9
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) beat Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) 17-14, 15-4

Other semifinal matchups:

Women's Doubles
Huang/Yang versus Jorgensen/Vange; Qin/Gao versus Kirkegaard/Olsen
Mixed Doubles
Suprianto/Zelin versus Holst/Jorgensen; Liu/Ge versus Agung/Ermawati

(mc/ds)

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