Seeded shuttlers beaten in Paris meet

Seeded shuttlers beaten in Paris meet

PARIS (AFP): Scandinavia's men's and women's singles top
seeds, Martin Lundgaard Hansen and Margit Borg, crashed out of
the French Open badminton championships on Friday.

Little-known and unranked Dharma Gunawi of Indonesia caused
the first shock by ousting Denmark's Lundgaard Hansen 15-6, 15-9
in the second round.

And at the same stage in the women's event, Sweden's Borg,
world ranked 31, was cast aside by Russia's Elena Rybkina,
classed 106, 11-4, 11-1.

Lundgaard Hansen, world ranked 29, warned it would be a tough
match against the 23-year-old German-based Indonesian, and his
prediction proved all too true.

Dharma outplayed his opponent with a combination of aggressive
jump smashes and deft drop shots to virtually lead from start to
finish.

He trailed 3-2 in the second game, but was soon back on top
and earned a 35-minute win with a typical smash on his second
match point.

Dharma's tournament was nearly cut short in the third round as
he trailed by a set and 13-9 to Sweden's Mats Svensson. But
Dharma ran out a 17-18, 18-15, 15-6 winner and was scheduled to
set up a quarter-final clash with Indonesia's Budi Santoso
Saturday.

This season, Dharma has not played in international
tournaments outside Germany, meaning he is not world-ranked.

But Dharma, who plays for Langenfeld, in Germany, intends to
compete in European international events from now on.

Dharma moved from Indonesia two years ago to study in Hamburg.
He played at the Hamburg club, before recently signing a
player/coach contract at Langenfeld.

Another surprise came when Germany's Volker Renzelmann ousted
Holland's Joris Van Soerland, seeded 3/4, 8-15, 15-12, 15-10 at
the second round stage.

But Holland had a better time in the women's doubles when
Carolien Glebbeek and Brenda Conijn beat second seeds Monica
Memoli and Maria Luise Mur of Italy 15-10, 15-11 in a first round
match.