China grabs four GP badminton titles

China grabs four GP badminton titles

JAKARTA (JP): China proved its supremacy in badminton by
sweeping four of the five titles at the 1997 Lipton World Grand
Prix Badminton Finals at the Senayan Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Two of the titles came at the expense of the host, Indonesia,
whose only victory came in the men's doubles through Candra
Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto.

The Indonesian pair defeated arch rivals Cheah Soon Kit and
Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia 17-15, 11-15, 15-5.

Sun Jun of China beat compatriot Dong Jiong 15-9, 15-6 in 48
minutes, avenging the loss at the All England final in Birmingham
in March. He pocketed the US$24,700 top prize.

Sun, an underdog in yesterday's final, had the 4,000
spectators behind him all the way.

"I was very surprised with my victory, because Dong is the
favorite. But I'm glad I had my revenge," Sun said.

Ye Zhaoying buried Indonesian Susi Susanti's dream of winning
her seventh Grand Prix title, winning 11-4, 11-4 in 22 minutes.

Susi, the defending champion, played under form and looked
totally bewildered and confused. The cheering partisan crowd
failed to inspire Susi's spirit or match.

Ye took the title and the $19,000 check.

"I think Susi didn't prepare very well for today's match. She
was probably too tired after yesterday's semifinal," Ye told a
post-match conference.

"I was surprised to have won so quickly. Usually, whenever I
play against her I get impatient and make many unforced errors.
Tonight, she was the one who made the mistakes."

Ye started the match as the underdog, having lost 20 of her 29
encounters with Susi in the last seven years.

"Well, Susi is the most difficult player to beat in the world.
She's very tough and her footwork is good. Unfortunately, tonight
she performed poorly," Ye said.

Susi was very disappointed with her form.

"I was really shocked. It was an anticlimax to my performance
in the tournament. I tried to attack but failed. Whenever I tried
to lob or rally, the shuttlecock always went out of the court. I
was really confused."

"I have to admit that Ye played much better than I did. I
think my age also affected my recovery, which becomes slower,"
said the 27-year-old player, who has set her sights on next
year's Asian Games in Bangkok.

Liu Yong/Ge Fei were unbeatable after eliminating Indonesia's
Tri Kusharjanto/Minarti Timur 15-9, 15-13 in 45 minutes in the
mixed doubles. They won the $15,200 first prize.

In the first set, the Chinese number one pair controlled the
match and ended it easily. In the second, they led 13-2 but the
Indonesians crawled back to bring the score to 13-14.

A controversial linesman's call however stopped the Indonesian
come back in its tracks. The linesman called Liu's shuttlecock
in, but Tri thought it was out.

Spectators howled their disapproval but the decision stood.
The incident proved too upsetting for the Indonesian pair.

"Well, we didn't really know if the call was right or wrong.
We had to accept the decision. I think we both tried our best to
win but the Chinese pair were really difficult to beat," Tri
said.

Tri/Minarti defeated Liu/Ge in the tournament's round-robin,
but last night they found a totally different opponent.

"They didn't play as fast as they did on the round-robin when
their smashes were really hard but we were able to anticipate
them. Today, their shots were slower but unpredictable. We were
really confused," Minarti said.

Ge also paired with Gu Jun to win the women's doubles, beating
junior compatriots Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu 15-1, 15-8 for the
$22,800 prize money.

Qin/Tang have never won against Ge/Gu in their previous 11
encounters. (yan)

Results

Men's singles:
Sun Jun (China) bt Dong Jiong (China) 15-9, 15-6

Women's singles:
Ye Zhaoying (China) bt Susi Susanti (Indonesia) 11-4, 11-4

Men's doubles:
Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto (Indonesia) bt Cheah Soon Kit/Yap
Kim Hock (Malaysia) 17-15, 11-15, 15-5

Women's doubles:
Ge Fei/Gu Jun (China) bt Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu (China) 15-1,
15-8

Mixed doubles:
Liu Yong/Ge Fei (China) bt Tri Kusharjanto/Minarti Timur
(Indonesia) 15-9, 15-13

Related photo -- Page 14