Indonesia and S. Korea set for early meeting
Indonesia and S. Korea set for early meeting
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Agencies): Nail-biting final group
matches cost favorite Indonesia an early meeting with title
holder South Korea in the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton
championship here on Friday.
Former All-England champion Ardy Wiranata slid into a shock
defeat as Indonesia struggled to a 3-2 edge over Denmark for the
group 1B top spot.
In group 1A, China, fresh from its steamrolling run in the
Asia Cup last month, outclassed South Korea 3-2 after a hard-
fought battle lasting five hours and 20 minutes.
Indonesia was scheduled to play South Korea at 2 p.m. (1200
GMT) on Saturday and China vs Denmark was scheduled at 7 p.m.
(1700 GMT) in the cross-over semifinals.
The final will be shown live by RCTI tonight at 8.30 p.m.
Indonesian West Time.
Indonesia's match against South Korea is a repeat of the last
three finals, with South Korea winning the last two.
"We cannot deny that this semifinal is an unexpected one,"
Indonesian badminton maestro Rudy Hartono said. "We did not think
that China would be that great."
Indonesia held on to win, but only after a sensation in the
first rubber, when a nervy world number two Ardy crashed to a 8-
15, 15-9, 15-5 defeat at the hand of lowly Peter Rasmussen, who
ranks just 25 in the world.
"I have no excuse. He played better than I did," Ardy said.
The graceful world and Olympic champion Susi Susanti soon came
charging to level the tie by beating Lotte Thomsen 11-1, 11-5.
All England champions Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, top
seeded for the individual event, had a possible final rerun
against second seeds Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard.
Subagdja and Mainaky comfortably won 15-10, 15-7.
Helene Kirkegaard and Rikke Olsen achieved a level 2-2 for
Denmark by winning the women's doubles, before Aryono and Elisa
ensured Indonesia's victory by winning the mixed doubles.
Danish team manager Morten Frost said his side's performance
showed that the reputedly invincible Indonesians were fallible.
"The difference between the Danish players and the Indonesians
was not so great tonight. We have proved the Indonesians can be
beaten," Frost said.
Denmark's challenge will be boosted by Thomas Lund, who
arrived late on Friday night. Lund is the current All-England
mixed doubles champion with partner Marlene Thomsen.
Upset
In group 1A, South Korea's Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah gave
a sign of things to come when they upset China's Chen Xingdong
and Wang Xiaoyuan 15-9, 15-7 in the mixed doubles.
In a repeat of this year's Swedish Open final, Kim and Gil,
world ranked 27 gained their revenge over the world number eight
pair.
Asian Games champion Bang Soo-hyun raced to a 10-0 lead
against China's world number six Ye Zhaoying and took the first
set 11-2.
Ye recovered her composure and rhythm in the second set to
reach 11-6. World number two Bang, also an Olympic and world
silver medalist, was then outmaneuvered and outgunned by Ye, who
won 2-11, 11-6, 11-6.
Asian champion Park Sung-woo just beat Dong Jiong, on his
sixth match point, 15-2, 16-18, 17-15, to give South Korea a 2-1
lead.
But China went on to win both the men's and women's doubles to
take the tie 3-2.
Earlier in the day, Sweden bounced back into the Sudirman Cup
elite after topping group 2.
Sweden thrashed the Netherlands 5-0, following other wins over
Japan and Russia in the four-nation pool.
Sweden will compete for the Cup in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1997
with the five other countries in group 1.
England was also scheduled to face Thailand on Saturday in a
group one relegation battle. Whoever loses will drop into the
void created by Sweden's promotion.