Mia Audina rises, Susi drops in world rankings

JAKARTA (JP): Mia Audina shot to the world women's singles No. 5 when the International Badminton Federation released the latest world rankings yesterday.

The frog leap made by Mia followed her exceptional performance at the Atlanta Olympic Games recently when she reached the final. Mia, who turns 17 on Aug. 22, came close to the coveted gold medal but All-England champion Bang Soo-hyun of South Korea foiled her herculean effort.

Mia, battling a knee injury for six months since December last year, qualified for the Olympics as the world No. 10. She was not 100 percent fit when she played a major role in Indonesia's Uber Cup triumph in Hong Kong last May.

The Olympics were only Mia's second outing since her long absence from competition. She was seeded eighth only after world No. 4 -- Lim Xiaoqing of Sweden -- pulled out.

Mia's commendable showing in Atlanta included her three-set quarterfinal win over All-England finalist Camila Martin of Denmark, who is now fourth in the ranking list.

Olympic champion Bang regained her top spot which she held briefly 13 months ago.

World champion Ye Zhaoying of China, who surprisingly fell to South Korea's second best Kim Ji-hyun in the quarterfinals, dropped from the pinnacle to the second spot, pushing Indonesian ace Susi Susanti to No. 3.

Susi, who has been in a diminuendo since she surrendered her three-year reign to Ye at the World Championships last year, lost to Bang in the Olympic semifinals.

The men's list, meanwhile, did not see any major changes, with Dong Jiong perching on top despite his defeat by Poul-Erik Hoyer- Larsen of Denmark in the Olympic gold medal match. The Dane All- England champion broke Asia's grip in Atlanta, but he had to settle for third place on the rankings, behind Indonesia's Joko Suprianto.

Another Indonesian -- world champion Hariyanto Arbi -- remained fourth, ahead of Malaysian Commonwealth champion Rashid Sidek, his conqueror in the Olympic bronze medal match.

Olympic men's doubles gold medalists Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky confirmed their world No. 1 status, with the Malaysian pair of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock coming in second. Indonesia's Olympic bronze medalists Denny Kantono and Antonius Irianto stayed fourth behind China's Huang Zhanzhong and Jiang Xin.

World and Olympic champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun were unshakeable from the top of the women's doubles rankings, while Park Joo-bong and Ra Kyung-min of South Korea led the mixed doubles rankings ahead of their Olympic final conquerors Kim Dong-moon and Gil Young-ah, also from South Korea. (amd)