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German Open: Men's Singles, Mixed Doubles Seeds All Out

** This NEW SHUTTLENWS report is presented by YANG YANG Badminton Products and their Western Canada agents - MAAKL Corporation, Saint Albert, Alberta (Tel 780-458-2026/ Fax 780-459-8891) **

October 9, 1999 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - At the German Open badminton championships in Duisburg, all 8 of the seeded men's singles players and all 4 of the seeded mixed doubles pairs have been put out of the tournament by the end of the quarterfinal stage yesterday.

Men's singles top seed Johan Hadi Kusuma of Indonesia, the younger brother of 1992 Olympic Games men's singles gold medalist Alan Budi Kusuma, was upended early yesterday in the round-of-16 by James Chua of Malaysia 15-10, 13-15 and 7-15. Second seed Tomas Johansson of Sweden was eliminated also in the same round by Nikhil Kanetkar of India 3-15, 15-4 and 9-15.

Third seed Ronny Agustinus of Indonesia, fourth pick Ji Xinpeng of China, fifth seed Colin Haughton of England, seventh seed Rasmus Wengberg of Sweden and eighth pick Vladislav Druzchenko of Ukraine all made their exits yesterday morning in the round-of-16.

Agustinus lost to newly crowned Dutch Open champion Xia Xuanze of China 15-13, 11-15 and 6-15. Ji was beaten by India's Pullela Gopichand 13-15 and 9-15. The English player Haughton fell to Jason Wong of Malaysia 11-15 and 3-15, while Wengberg was put out by Marc Constable of England 10-15 and 9-15. Druzchenko was eliminated by Xiao Hui, a Chinese player who now resides in Germany, 9-15 and 3-15.

Only sixth seed Oliver Pongratz of Germany survived the massacre of the seeds in the round-of-16. Pongratz defeated Peter Janum of Denmark 15-7 and 15-9. However, the German player's stay in the tournament ended last night in the quarterfinals when he was beaten by James Chua 15-10, 3-15 and 10-15.

Joining Chua in today's semifinals are Gopichand, Xia and Xiao. In yesterday's late matches, Gopichand defeated Constable 15-6 and 15-4, while Xia beat Jason Wong 15-10 and 15-6.

Xiao eliminated Kanetkar when the Indian player was injured and was unable to start the second set. Xiao had won the first 15-4.

In mixed doubles, top seeds Michael Keck and Nicol Pitro were gone by the end of the second round on Thursday. They were beaten by Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Pernille Harder of Denmark 6-15 and 15-9. Second seeds Frederik Bergstrom and Jenny Karlsson of Sweden were put out last night in the quarterfinals by Japan's Yuzo Kubota and Haruko Matsuda 6-15 and 10-15.

Third seeds Bjorn Siegemund and Karen Stechmann of Germany were second-round losers to Jane Bramsen and Lars Paaske of Denmark 15-4 and 15-5. Fourth picks Fumihiko Machida and Yasuko Mizui of Japan also lost in the second round. They were defeated by Natalia Esipenko and Dmitry Miznikov of Ukraine 12-15, 15-7 and 15-10.

In women's singles, top seed Zhou Mi of China avenged her semifinal defeat at the recent Dutch Open when she beat Dutch-Indonesian player Mia Audina 11-8 and 11-6 in a round-of-16 match yesterday morning. Zhou went on to win her quarterfinal contest last night against Koon Wai Chee of Hong Kong 11-4 and 11-1.

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

Women's Singles
Marina Andrievskaia (Sweden) beat 3-Kanako Yonekura (Japan) 11-6, 7-11, 13-11
Tang Chunyu (China) beat 4-Margit Borg (Sweden) 11-4, 11-0
2-Yasuko Mizui (Japan) beat 5-Aparna Popat (India) 11-6, 11-4

Men's Doubles
1-Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson (Sweden) beat Shinji Ohta and Takuya Takehana (Japan) 15-10, 15-4
Chew Choon Eng and Rosman Razak (Malaysia) beat Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Ove Svejstrup (Denmark) 15-8, 15-10
Ade Lukas and Santoso Sugiharjo (Indonesia) beat Cheng Rui and Wang Wei (China) 17-16, 15-13
2-Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah (Malaysia) beat Jesper Christensen and Thomas Hovgaard (Denmark) 15-7, 15-12

Women's Doubles
1-Gao Ling and Qin Yiyuan (China) beat Takae Masumo and Chikako Nakayama (Japan) 15-8, 15-9
Tang Chunyu and Zhou Mi (China) beat Naomi Murakami and Hiromi Yamada (Japan) 15-7, 15-9
Chen Lin and Jiang Xuelian (China) beat 3-Nicole Grether and Karen Stechmann (Germany) 15-3, 15-10
2-Yoshiko Iwata and Haruko Matsuda (Japan) beat Sandra Beissel and Anja Weber (Germany) 15-10, 15-5

Mixed Doubles
Vladislav Druzcheno and Victoria Evtoushenko (Ukraine) beat Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Pernille Harder (Denmark) 15-12, 15-9
Janek Roos and Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Natalia Esipenko and Dmitry Miznikov (Ukraine) 15-1, 15-4
Jane Bramsen and Lars Paaske (Denmark) beat Ms. Chen Lin and Chen Qiqiu (China) 15-7, 15-12

(yyn/mg)