Susi is Asia's best athlete

Susi is Asia's best athlete

JAKARTA (JP): Badminton queen Susi Susanti is included in the
list of Asia's top 10 athletes of 1994 and is entitled to the
Kungfu Family Cup, a Chinese sports journalists association
announced on Wednesday.

The Cup for the world number one woman shuttler, who gave
Indonesia its first gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics,
was handed over to the Indonesian embassy in Beijing, Antara
reported on Wednesday.

Susi carried an almost flawless record throughout 1994,
winning all titles in her seven world badminton Grand Prix series
appearances. She also spearheaded the national team to take the
Uber Cup world women's team championship title for the first time
in 19 years.

However, she fell short of expectations, spoiling Indonesia's
badminton team superiority in the Asian Games in Hiroshima.
During those games she suffered a major upset in her singles
quarterfinal match against Japanese Hisako Mizui. Susi also led a
team to South Korea for a silver instead of a gold.

Susi, who ended 1994 on top of the world Grand Prix rankings,
started this season with two victories in the Japan Open and
Korea Open.

Among the other top athletes selected were China's woman
swimmer Le Jingyi, who broke the Asian Games 50m freestyle
record, female gymnast Mo Huilan, who scooped up four golds in
the Asian Games, men's single table tennis king Wang Tao and
woman long-distant runner Wang Junxia.

The same honor was also given to track and field athletes from
Qatar and South Korea, a soccer player from Saudi Arabia, a
Japanese woman tennis player and a South Korean woman skier.

The committee believed the year 1994 was a golden year for
Asian sportsmen and women, particularly in swimming, table
tennis, track and field and gymnastics. (arf)