** HELP!!! Keep NEW SHUTTLENWS going - BUY our sponsor's products. **

Japan Open: Gade Eases Into Semifinals

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

April 9, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Peter Gade of Denmark, the world's number one badminton men's singles player, cruised into the semifinals of the Japan Open badminton championships at the Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo with an easy 2-set victory today over young Indonesian player Johan Budi Kusuma. Gade had all his shots going today and overwhelmed Kusuma in a little less than 30 minutes, 15-2 and 15-4.

Sun Jun of China, Gade's main remaining rival here, had a more difficult quarterfinal but pulled through in his match with Malaysia's Ong Ewe Hock. Sun suffered a first game setback, but played superbly in the next two to win 11-5, 15-4 and 15-3.

Malaysia's Wong Choon Hann and China's Chen Hong took the remaining two semifinal places. Wong beat Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia 15-12 and 15-11, while Chen upended world champion Peter Rasmussen of Denmark in a three-set battle 17-14, 12-15 and 15-13.

Gade will play Wong and Sun will face Chen in tomorrrow's final four.

Following are unofficial results of today's matches (all quarterfinals; number before player name indicates seeding):

Men's Singles
1-Peter Gade (Denmark) beat 12-Johan Hadi Kusuma (Indonesia) 15-2, 15-4
11-Wong Choong Hann (Malaysia) beat 16-Marleve Mainaky (Indonesiaa) 15-12, 15-11
4-Sun Jun (China) beat 10-Ong Ewe Hock (Malaysia) 11-15, 15-4, 15-3
15-Chen Hong (China) beat 6-Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) 17-14, 12-15, 15-13

Women's Singles
7-Gong Zhichao (China) beat Satomi Igawa (Japan) 11-4,11-3
Kim Ji Hyun (Korea) beat 4-Zhou Mi (China) 3-11, 13-11, 11-8
3-Ye Zhaoying (China) beat 5-Zhang Ning (China) 11-6, 7-11, 11-7
2-Gong Ruina (China) beat 6-Yasuko Mizui (Japan) 11-0,11-6

Men's Doubles
5-Tony Gunawan and Chandra Wijaya (Indonesia) beat Liu Yong and Chen Qiqiu (China) 15-2, 15-5
Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon (Korea) beat 8-Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson (England) 15-5, 15-4
Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yong Sung (Korea) beat 7-Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei (China) 15-6, 15-12
2-Antonius Ariantho and Denny Kantono (Indonesia) beat Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan (Malaysia) 15-6, 15-3

Women's Doubles
1-Yang Wei and Huang Nanyan (China) beat 5-Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn and Saralee Thungthongkam (Thailand) 15-4, 15-8
Ra Kyung Min and Chung Jae Hee (Korea) beat 8-Etty Tantri and Cinthia Tuwankotta (Indonesia) 15-10, 15-7
6-Zhou Mi and Gong Ruina (China) beat Naomi Murakami and Hiromi Yamada (Japan) 15-12, 15-5
2-Ge Fei and Gu Jun (China) beat Naomi Kawaguchi and Yumi Akashi (Japan) 15-3, 15-5

Mixed Doubles
1-Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min (Korea) beat 5-Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur (Indonesia) 15-10, 15-2
6-Liu Yong and Ge Fei (China) beat Jung Sung Gyun and Jun Woul Sik (Korea) 15-0, 15-6
3-Ha Tae Kwon and Chung Jae Hee (Korea) beat Imam Tohari and Vita Marisa (Indonesia) 15-9, 15-9
8-Zhang Jun and Yang Wei (China) beat 2-Wahyu Agung and Ema Ermawati (Indonesia) 15-5, 15-11

(apl/ds)

** HELP!!! Keep NEW SHUTTLENWS going - BUY our sponsor's products. **