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Olympic Badminton Recaps: 27 July (Day 8)

Women's Doubles / Preliminary Round 2

JORGENSEN and OLSEN Upset BRADBURY and WRIGHT

Denmark's Ann JORGENSEN and Lotte OLSEN pulled off a big win in women's doubles badminton action Saturday evening, defeating fifth-seeded Julie BRADBURY and Joanne WRIGHT of Great Britain, 15-4, 15-5. While BRADBURY and WRIGHT are seeded in the tournament, the upset was not a complete surprise. BRADBURY and WRIGHT rank seventh in the world in the IBF's latest release, just two places above JORGENSEN and OLSEN. However, they are seeded fifth because the Olympic slots were determined by the April IBF rankings, the latest available at the time.

Seventh-seeded Lisbet STUER-LAURIDSEN and Marlene THOMSEN of Denmark and third-seeded QIN Yiyuan and TANG Yongshu of the People's Republic of China also had difficulty with their respective opponents. STUER-LAURIDSEN and THOMSEN defeated Korea's CHUNG Jae Hee and PARK Soo Yun, 15-8, 13-15, 15-9, while QIN and TANG won an up-and-down match against Indonesia's FINARSIH and Lili TAMPI, 15-1, 4-15, 15-6.

The closest match was second-seeded GE Fei and GU Jun's (CHN) 15-3, 15-6 victory over Germany's Katrin SCHMIDT and Kerstin UBBEN. In the second game, GE and GU needed five attempts to score match point.

Also advancing to Sunday's quarterfinal round are 1992 Olympic gold medalists GIL Young Ah and JANG Hye Ock of Korea, the No. 1 seed, by defeating Japan's Tomomi MATSUI and Masako SAKAMOTO, 15-7, 15-6.


Men's Doubles/Preliminary Round 2

Upset Bug Strikes Again!

Indonesia and Denmark both suffered blows Saturday afternoon when their seeded men's double pairs were defeated.

Indonesia's GUNAWAN and Bambang SUPRIANTO, the No. 4 seed in the tournament but their country's third-ranked team, were upset by Malaysia's SOO Beng Kiang and TAN Kim Her, ranked 13th in the world. Denmark's Jon HOLST-CHRISTENSEN and Thomas LUND, the fifth-seeded pair, lost to 10th-ranked HA Tae Kwon and KANG Kyung Jin. Indonesia still has two men's doubles pairs in the quarterfinals, but HOLST-CHRISTENSEN and LUND were Denmark's last hope in the competition.

SOO and TAN defeated GUNAWAN and SUPRIANTO in a tight match, 18-13, 4-15, 15-6. In the rubber game of the match, SOO and TAN lost an early lead when GUNAWAN and SUPRIANTO went up 6-5. SOO and TAN then answered with 10 straight points.

HOLST-CHRISTENSEN and LUND began the first two games trailing HA and KANG, but came back in the second game to set the game at three points, which they won.

See story


Women's Singles/Preliminary Round 3

Final Two Seeded Players Advance in Close Matches

Indonesia's 16-year-old sensation Mia AUDINA got quite a shock from Great Britain's Kelly MORGAN in women's singles action Saturday afternoon.

AUDINA, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, was expected to defeat MORGAN, ranked 50th in the world, without any trouble. As one fan shouted after their respective rankings were announced, "This is not a match."

MORGAN, however, turned it into a match. After losing the first game, 2-11, MORGAN came alive, capitalizing on AUDINA's overconfidence, to win the second game, 11-4. She kept AUDINA fighting for points in the third game, neither letting the other's lead get too large. AUDINA won the game and match with three straight points after the game had been set at 9-

Fourth-seeded Camilla MARTIN of Denmark also won a tight match, defeating Chinese Taipei's HUANG Chia-Chi, 12-11, 11-9.

All eight seeded womn's singles players advance to the quarterfinals, which begin on Sunday.


Mixed Doubles/Preliminary Round 2

Seeded Pairs Advance to Quarterfinals

All of the seeded pairs competing in the Olympic badminton mixed doubles tournament won their matches Saturday afternoon. They were led by top-seeded PARK Joo-Bong and RA Kyung Min of Korea, who put away Sweden's Peter AXELSSON and Catrine BENGTSSON, 15-1, 17-15.

Joining them was unseeded Nimpele FLANDY and Rosalina RISEU of Indonesia, who beat Denmark's Jens ERIKSEN and Helene KIRKEGAARD, 10-15, 15-9, 15-9, and had earlier defeated sixth-seeded Simon ARCHER and Julie BRADBURY (GBR).


Women's Singles, Preliminary Round 3

Seeded Competitors Advance Easily to Quarterfinals

All of the seeded women's singles players competing Saturday morning advanced easily to Sunday's quarterfinal round. The group was led by top-seeded YE Zhaoying of the People's Republic of China, who dominated Sweden's Margit BORG with a pair of 11-4 games.

Second-seeded Susi SUSANTI of Indonesia, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist in women's singles, trounced Poland's only badminton competitor, Katarzyna KRASOWSKA, 11-4, 11-0. Korea's BANG Soo Hyun, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, put away Japan's Yasuko MIZUI, 11-2, 11-3, while seventh-seeded KIM Ji Hyun of Korea dominated the other MIZUI sister, Hisako, 11-4, 11-0.

China's HAN Jingna and YAO Yan, the No. 5 and 6 seeds, respectively, also faced little serious threat of elimination. HAN rolled over Thailand's Pornsawan PLUNGWECH, 11-3, 11-6, and YAO defeated Indonesia's Yuliani SENTOSO, 11-6, 11-5.


Men's Doubles, Preliminary Round 2

ARCHER and HUNT Defeat Eighth-Seeded TEERAWIWATANA and THONGSARI

Great Britain's Simon ARCHER and Chris HUNT won a hard-fought match against Thailand's Pramote TEERAWIWATANA and Sakrapee THONGSARI, the No. 8 seeds in the Olympic badminton men's doubles competition.

TEERAWIWATANA and THONGSARI took an early lead in the first game, 5-1, but ARCHER and HUNT came back to pull ahead at 8-7. The lead changed hands twice more before the Thai pair tied the game at 13-13, when the game was set at five points. The final points were scored slowly, with ARCHER and HUNT able to score two consecutive points only once. ARCHER and HUNT finished the game 18-14. The serve changed hands 25 times in the game. TEERAWIWATANA and THONGSARI took the early advantage in the second game, up 11-6 at one point, but ARCHER and HUNT battled back to win the game, 15-11.

Other seeded pairs had difficulty with their opponents. No. 2 CHEAH Soon Kit and YAP Kim Hock of Malaysia were down in the first game 2-8 to China's GE Cheng and TAO Xiaoqiang before winning the match 15-8, 15-2. Third-ranked ANTONIUS and Denny KANTONO (INA) had a tight second game in their 15-8, 15-12 victory over Denmark's Jens ERIKSEN and Christian JAKOBSEN.

In other matches, top-seeded Rexy MAINAKY and Ricky SUBAGJA of Indonesia defeated Denmark's Michael SOGAARD and Henrik SVARRER, 15-10, 15-7; No. 6 HUANG Zhanzhong and JIANG Xin (CHN) defeated Peter BLACKBURN and Paul STAIGHT (AUS), 15-7, 15-9; and Andreij ANTROPOV and Nickolaj ZUEV (RUS) dominated Germany's Michael HELBER and Michael KECK, 15-1, 15-7.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.


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