Ze Zhaoing tops women's singles badminton ranking

JAKARTA (JP): Poor showing in both the All England and Swiss Open badminton championships by Indonesian players have put Chinese shuttlers on top of the ranking list issued by the International Badminton Federation yesterday.

Ze Zhaoing of China replaced Indonesia's Mia Audina as the women's singles number one badminton player.

Ye was previously number two but her victory at the All England championship in early March and runner-up position in the Swiss Open pushed Mia to second and Gong Zhichao, also from China, to third. In the Swiss Open, Ye lost to Camilla Martin of Denmark.

Susi Susanti, the former number one player had to be satisfied with fourth place. Susi lost in the All England and the Swiss Open championships.

In the men's singles, another Chinese shuttler Dong Jiong took the top ranking, pushing former number one Danish Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen into second place. Sun Jun of China and Fung Permadi of Chinese Taipei took third and fourth places respectively.

Indonesia's Joko Suprianto is in fifth place while two other Indonesian players Indra Wijaya and Heryanto Arbi are in 10th and 12th place respectively.

Indonesia's men's doubles Chandra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto took over their teammates Ricky Subagdja/Rexy Mainaky in the top ranking. Ricky and Rexy slid down to third place. The second place went to Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock of Malaysia.

Two other Indonesian doubles Denny Kantono/Antonius and Tony Gunawan/Rudy Wijaya were in fourth and sixth rankings.

The top ranking in the women's doubles is still dominated by China's Gei Fei/Gu Jun. Gei and Gu, the All England champions, who have not budged from top ranking since Jan. 28.

Elisa/Zelin Rosiana of China are in second place, followed by another Chinese pair Qin Yiyuan/Tang Yongshu in third. Indarti Isolina/Deyana Lomban are in fourth place.

The top ranking in the mixed doubles is still in the hands of Indonesia's Trikus Heryanto/Minarti Timur. Danish players Jens Eriksen/Marlene Thomsen and Michael Soorgard/Rikke Olsen are in second and third place respectively.

Leading world singles rankings were issued by the IBF yesterday after the Swiss Open which took place from March 18-23. (lnt)

Men: 1. Dong Jiong (Chn) 341.08 pts 2. Poul-Erik H.Larsen (Den) 294.34 3. Sun Jun (Chn) 275.09 4. Fung Permadi (Tpe) 266.97 5. Joko Suprianto (Ina) 265.69 6. T. Stuer-Lauridsen (Den) 265.66 7. Ewe Hock Ong (Mas) 265.55 8. Rashid Sidek (Mas) 260.79 9. Park Sung-woo (Kor) 258.00 10. Indra Wijaya (Ina) 247.65

Women: 1. Ye Zhaoying (Chn) 360.36 2. Mia Audina (Ina) 337.85 3. Gong Zhichao (Chn) 335.14 4. Susi Susanti (Ina) 310.54 5. Camilla Martin (Den) 304.76 6. Zhang Ning (Chn) 277.35 7. Wang Chen (Chn) 275.08 8. Ra Kyung-min (Kor) 270.82 9. Kim Ji-hyun (Kor) 252.48 10. Han Jingna (Chn) 242.76