ACOG - News - IBM

(29 July 1996; Day 10)

Olympic Women's Singles Badminton Competition Down to Four

The Olympic badminton women's singles competition draws nearer to its final round. Now only four remain.

But not the four that were expected to remain. The top seed, China's YE Zhaoying, failed to make the semifinals, losing 11-5, 12-11 to Korea's KIM Ji Hyun. The No. 4 seed, Denmark's Camilla MARTIN, also lost. Indonesia's Mia AUDINA defeated MARTIN, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5.

"I absolutely didn't expect to win against YE," said KIM.

Most others didn't expect it, either. YE was ranked No.1 in the world, while KIM checked in at No. 10 in the IBF's latest rankings. In their last five meetings, KIM had always finished on the shorter side of the score and KIM had only defeated YE twice, in the 1995 All-England Open and in the 1994 Korea Open. KIM hasn't won a Grand Prix tournament title, despite playing on the circuit since 1990. YE won six major titles in 1995 alone, including the World Championships, World Cup and Grand Prix Finals. KIM seemed outmatched.

"My opponents made several mistakes in the first set," KIM explained, "which is why I won it so easily."

Mistakes did indeed lose the match for YE. She committed 43 errors in the match, compared to KIM's 27.

AUDINA's victory wasn't as much of a surprise. While AUDINA, just 16 years old, has not won a major title yet, she is Indonesia's second-ranked women's singles player after 1992 Olympic gold medalist Susi SUSANTI. AUDINA came in second in both the 1995 Asia Cup and Hong Kong Open. She reached the semifinals in the 1995 World Cup and the All-England tournament, in which she lost to MARTIN, and reached the quarterfinals in that year's World Championships.

In MARTIN and AUDINA's four previous meetings, they were 2-2.

AUDINA will now go on to face KIM in the semifinals on Tuesday. The two last met in May of 1996, playing in the Uber Cup in Hong Kong. AUDINA won the match, despite holding a lower ranking. AUDINA now ranks just one spot lower than KIM.

Says AUDINA, "It would be great if it was Susi and I in the final."

The other semifinal match will be between SUSANTI, originally seeded second in the tournament behind YE, and third-seeded BANG Soo Hyun of Korea. In the last round, SUSANTI defeated China's HAN Jingna, 3-11, 11-4, 11-8, while BANG rolled over HAN's countrywoman YAO Yan, 11-3, 11-2. SUSANTI defeated BANG in the 1992 Olympic Games in the final to win her gold medal. However, BANG won their last meeting, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4, in the 1996 All-England tournament, which she went on to win.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Deana A.G. Monahan.


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