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Asian Championships: Marleve Conquers Defending Champion

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is presented by YANG YANG Badminton Products and their Ontario (Canada) agents - SHAH Enterprises **

September 17, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Marleve Mainaky of Indonesia today eliminated defending men's singles titleist Chen Gang of China in quarterfinal action at the Asian Badminton Confederation championships in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mainaky, a second-stringer on the Indonesian national team and younger brother of Olympic men's doubles champion Rexy Mainaky, took less than 30 minutes to beat the Chinese player and to move ahead into the final four where he will be matched up against Malaysian stalwart Ong Ewe Hock.

Ong beat Indra Wijaya of Indonesia in his quarterfinal match. Ong came back from a set point down 12-14 to edge out Wijaya 17-16 in the first set. In the second, the Malaysian player dominated from the start and went from an early 5-0 advantage to a 15-8 victory.

Men's singles top seed Fung Permadi of Taiwan breezed past Chen Wei of China 15-4 and 15-4. In the semifinals, Fung will play China's Chen Hong who easily beat Indonesian Johan Hadi Kusuma 15-2 and 15-3.

Chinese players won all four of the women's singles quarterfinal matches. Top pick Dai Yun defeated Huang Chia Chi of Taiwan 8-11, 11-3 and 11-6. Second seed Ye Zhaoying trounced Kanako Yonekura of Japan 11-0 and 11-1.

Third seed Gong Zhichao beat Lee Kyung Won of Korea 6-11, 11-8 and 11-7 in a contest between two tireless retrievers, and fourth seed Zhang Ning put out Yasuko Mizui of Japan 4-11, 11-6 and 11-3.

In men's doubles, Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, the newly reunited 1996 Olympic silver medalists from Malaysia, moved into the semifinals with an easy 15-7 and 15-2 victory over Sudket Prapakamol and Patapol Ngernsrisuk of Thailand. Yap had retired from badminton after the 1998 Thomas Cup Finals because of a shoulder injury. He decided to make a comeback late last month after spending half a year as an assistant coach with the Malaysian team and finding that he still matched up well against the younger players.

While Yap was in retirement, Cheah wandered around in a sort of limbo, trying to partner other players but never clicking with any of them.

Men's doubles world champions Kim Dong Moon and Ha Tae Kwon, the top seeds at the tourney, also had an easy quarterfinal win. Kim and Ha whipped Indonesian third-stringers Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiharjo 15-5 and 15-7.

In the semifinals, the Koreans will face Thailand's Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisavas who defeated Chan Chong Ming and Jeremy Gan of Malaysia 15-1 and 15-7in their quarterfinal match. Cheah and Yap will play the world championships bronze medalists from China, Zhang Jun and Zhang Wei who today beat Tri Kusheryanto and Bambang Suprianto of Indonesia 15-9 and 15-11.

Following are the results of the other matches today (number before player's name indicates seeding).

Quarterfinals
Mixed Doubles
1-Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Ming (Korea) beat 6-Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Saralee Thungtongkam (Thailand) 15-2, 15-5
5-Trikus Harjanto and Zelin Resiana (Indonesia) beat Jung Sung Gyun and Lee Hyo Jung (Korea) 15-7, 15-3
Bambang Suprianto and Minarti Timur (Indonesia) beat 3-Ha Tae Kwon and Chung Jae Hee (Korea) 10-15, 15-7, 15-10
2-Liu Yong and Ge Fei (China) beat Ng Kean Kok and Fonh Chew Yen (Malaysia) 15-3, 15-7

Women's Doubles
1-Gei Fei and Gu Jun (China) beat 8-Minarti Timur and Zelin Resiana (Indonesia) 10-15, 15-9, 15-12
3-Etty Tantri and Cynthia Tuwakotta (Indonesia) beat 7-Chen Li Chin and Tsai Hui Min (Taiwan) 15-3, 15-5
4-Sujitra Ekmonglkolpaisarn and Saralee Thungtongkam (Thailand) beat Liu Lu and Zhan Xubin (China) 15-13, 8-15, 17-16
2-Ra Kyung Ming and Chung Jae Hee (Korea) beat 6-Emma Ermawati and Vita Marissa (Indonesia) 15-3, 15-6

(yyn/ds)