China underlines superiority but Indonesia loses

China underlines superiority but Indonesia loses

GLASGOW (Agencies): China kept a firm grip on the Sudirman Cup
mixed team badminton championship with a convincing win over
former winner South Korea in the final round of group matches
Thursday.

But there was no joy for China's traditional big rivals
Indonesia which was edged out 3-2 by Europe's strongest country,
Denmark.

China, led by All-England champion, Dong Jiong, the top seeds
won the opening three rubbers in straight games to dent the
Korean hopes of regaining the crown they took in 1991 and 1993.

It was only after the match was over as a contest that the
Chinese relaxed their grip, allowing the Koreans to take the two
dead rubbers, the men's and mixed doubles, to make the final
score 3-2.

Ge Fei and Gu Jun set the Chinese on the road to victory with
a 15-4, 15-9 win in the women's doubles, and Dong, despite
trailing 3-6 in the first game, made it 2-0 with a 15-9, 15-6
scoreline against Jang Chun-wong.

The holders rested All-England champion and world number one
Ye Zhaoying in the women's singles, but the petite world number
two, Gong Zhichao, proved to be a more than able deputy. In a tie
lasting just nine minutes, she defeated Lee Joo-hyun 11-5, 11-0
to wrap up the Chinese win.

The Indonesia-Denmark game went all the way with the Danes
edging home in a five-hour marathon after a hard-fought win in
the mixed doubles, Jens Eriksen and Marlene Thomsen triumphing
15-6, 15-12.

The Danes now have high hopes of reaching the final for the
first time. They meet South Korea in the semifinals while China
plays Indonesia.

RCTI will broadcast live the finals of the Sudirman Cup at 8
p.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB) today.

The Danish victory was teed up in the opening match by Olympic
gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen who overcame world champion
Hariyanto Arbi 17-16, 12-15, 15-4.

The Dane has not been at his best since Atlanta but he came
good Thursday.

"After so many months struggling to hit form, I now feel I am
back to by best and this was a very important win for me," Hoyer-
Larsen said.

"I did suffer from post-Olympic euphoria, but I now feel my
mental toughness is back to 100 percent."

Malaysia

The Malaysians, coached for the first time by the former
Danish world number one Morten Frost, scored its third success
4-1 over Canada. Six of the team are 21 or under.

"I am very pleased with them," Frost said. "They are coping
with the pressure, getting valuable experience, and I believe
that we will now be promoted to group one."

Less pleased is the World Championships director Anne Smillie
who, for the second day, had to deal with a well-known character
becoming embroiled in a row with stewards.

Complaints were made to Smillie that Roy Ward, an Australian
who is Vice-President of the International Badminton Federation
(IBF), on two separate occasions used abusive language when
stopped at the doors.

"I've told him I don't care who it is, I won't have my staff
being treated like that, and the next time he will be ejected
from the building," said Smillie.

Previously Simon Archer, the England international who is one
of the world's leading men's and mixed doubles players, was
reported to the English manager Steve Baddeley after allegations
that he swore at a steward.

There was better news of the IBF's President, Lu Shengrong.
Lu, the only Asian female President of an international sports
federation, has been elected a member of the council the ASOIF,
the association of summer Olympic sports federations.

Last year Lu was elected a member of the International Olympic
Committee.

Meanwhile, world grand prix titleholder Fung Permadi
inadvertently provoked a protest, missed a match point and
suffered a shock defeat in the Sudirman Cup.

The former Indonesian who has emigrated to Chinese Taipei
shocked the German team when he walked on court to play them
because the men's singles name on the Chinese-Taipei team sheet
had been Chen Feng.

This prompted the Germans to make an official protest and for
a few minutes it seemed that the start of the crucial group two
promotion battle might be delayed while the contradiction was
being sorted out.

"Fortunately I had done some refereeing in the Far East and I
knew that this was Fung's Chinese name now that he has moved to
another country," said Englishman Keith Hawthorne, the World
Championships referee.

"I managed to persuade them that it was really one and the
same person and that the Taiwanese had not realized that everyone
knows Fung Permadi by a very different name from that which they
use."

Results:

Group 1A
China 3 South Korea 2

Results (Chinese names first):

Men's singles:
Dong Jiong bt Jang Chun-woong 15-9, 15-6

Men's doubles:
Ge Cheng/Tao Xiaoqiang lost to Kang Kyung-jin/Ha Tae-kwon 3-15,
10-15

Women's singles:
Gong Zhichao bt Lee Joo-hyun 11-5, 11-0

Women's doubles:
Ge Fei/Gu Jun bt Kim Mee-hyang/Kim Shin-young 15-4, 15-9

Mixed doubles:
Liu Yong/Ge lost to Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min 15-7, 2-15, 11-15

Group 1B
Denmark 3 Indonesia 2

Men's singles:
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen bt Hariyanto Arbi 17-16, 12-15, 15-4

Men's doubles:
Jan Holst-Christensen/Michael Sogaard lost to Ricky Subagja/Rexy
Mainaky 15-18, 12-15

Women's singles:
Camilla Martin lost to Susi Susanti 6-11, 3-11

Women's doubles
Rikke Olsen/Helene Kirkegaard bt Eliza/Zelin Resiana 17-14, 14-
17, 15-10

Mixed doubles:
Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen bt Flandy Limpele/Minarti Timur 15-
6, 15-12

Group 3A
Australia 3 Hong Kong 2
Finland 3 Austria 2

Group 3B
New Zealand 3 Scotland 2
India 4 Norway 1

Group 5 play-offs:
Kazakhstan 4 Belgium 1
Portugal 3 Peru 2
France 4 Spain 1

Group 7 play-offs:
Luxembourg 4 Argentina 1
Italy 5 Cyprus 0
Slovakia 4 Mexico 1
Brazil 3 Malta 2