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Tue, 25 Mar 1997

JP/Indonesia gains no titles at Swiss badminton Open

Indonesia gains no titles at Swiss badminton Open

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's plan to dominate badminton in Europe suffered another set back Sunday when it came away from the Swiss Open in Basel empty handed.

The country's last hopes were dashed when Flandy Limpele and Minarti Timur were beaten by China in the mixed doubles final and Sigit Budiarto and Chandra Wijaya were beaten by South Korea in the men's doubles final.

Flandy and Minarti lost to Liu Yong and Ge Fei in straight sets 9-15 9-15 while Sigit and Chandra lost to Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-song 15-9 11-15 4-15.

The Indonesian team did not win any titles at the All-England tournament in early March.

The team said it played the Swiss Open as a warmup for the world championship in May in Glasgow, Scotland.

Indonesia's top players Heryanto Arbi, Alan Budikusma and Ardy Wiranata were beaten in the preliminary rounds of the Open. Susanti and Ricky Subagdja/Rexy Mainaky were eliminated in the semifinals.

Susi lost to the 1997 All-England champion Ye Zhaoying of China 11-5 3-11 3-11. Ricky and Rexy lost to Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-song 8-15 12-15.

Ye was defeated in the final by Camilla Martin of Denmark 9-12 11-6 11-9.

The men's singles title went to Dong Jiong of China who defeated world number one Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark 17-14 15-11.

But the team bounced back in France. Indonesia won the men's and women's doubles at the French Open in Paris on Sunday.

Tony Gunawan and Victor Wibowo beat their teammates Davis and Halim 15-10 15-8 in the men's final. Cynthia and Etti Tantri brushed aside the English pair of Ella Miles and Sarah Sankey 14- 17 15-3 15-7 in the women's final.

Cris Bruil of the Netherlands took the men's singles title at the French Open when he beat Daniel Eriksson of Sweden 17-14 15- 7. Kelly Morgan of Wales won the women's singles after defeating Karolina Ericsson of Sweden 12-9 11-3.

The mixed doubles title went to Peter Jeffrey and Sarah Hardaker of England after an easy victory over Kenny and Elinor Middlemiss of Scotland 15-8 15-11. (lnt)