SINGAPORE SETTLES THE 1999 JVC ASIAN RANKINGS

JAKARTA: August 30, 1999

The Singaporeproved to be an exciting end to the JVC Asian Badminton Rankings tabulation as most of Asia's top stars were at the Konica Cup to finalize their seeding positions leading into the JVC Asian Badminton Championships to be held in Kuala Lumpur from September 15 - 19. All of the #1 players on this week's JVC Asian Rankings are also on top on the IBF world rankings, thus proving that Asia is badminton's strongest world-wide region. The final results will be released next week after the Singaporepoints are tabulated, however, the rankings prior to this event show that margins were narrowing prior to the last JVC Asian Championships qualifying event on the IBF circuit.

Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan regained the #1 position in the Men's Doubles category from Ha Tae Kwon/Kim Dong Moon of Korea which has been the JVC Asian Ranking's closest category. The highly anticipated showdown between the two pairs did not occur as the Koreans lost in the early rounds of the Singapore Candra and Tony advanced to the finals where they lost to up-and-coming Malaysian pair of Choong Tan Fook and Lee Wan Wah. This nearly insures that the Indonesian pair will secure the #1 spot on the JVC Rankings thereby also giving them the #1 seed at the JVC ABC event if they compete in K.L. It also looks as though Kim Dong Moon will not finish on top of two categories (he is also in the #1 spot in Mixed Doubles) nor will Chinese superstar, Ge Fei, as her Mixed Doubles hopes are now gone and she is in jeopardy of losing out in the Ladies' Doubles as well.

Other close categories that could be decided after the tabulation of the Singaporepoints are the Ladies' Doubles, Men's Singles and Ladies' Singles. Huang Nanyan/Yang Wei of China took the Konica Cup championship and look to provide a serious challenge to World Champions and compatriots Ge Fei/Gu Jun. Sun Jun did not compete in the Konica Cup and therefore, leaves the doorto Fung Permadi, currently in second place on the JVC Rankings, who advanced to the Quarter Finals before losing to eventual champion Heryanto Arbi of Indonesia. Konica Cup finalists Ye Zhaoying and Gong Zhichao could both make a final push at overtaking the #1 position in Ladies' Doubles as current #1 Dai Yun did not compete.

Last week, JVC announced that all players finishing the season in the #1 position on the JVC Asian Badminton Rankings will receive a JVC RCXZ 70 CD Portable System. This is one of JVC's top portable CD stereos which includes such specialized CD features as: CD Remote Control; CD Synchro Start Recording; 1-bit D/A Converter and Compu Play. These prizes will be given out at the JVC Asian Badminton Championships to all players finishing in the #1 position on the JVC Asian Rankings therefore qualifying them as the #1 seeded players at the JVC Asian Badminton Championships.

Issued by International Management Group, Jakarta on behalf of the Asian Badminton Confederation. If you require more information, please contact Ms. Maya Hidajat of IMG Jakarta at Tel: (62-21) 526 8038, Fax: (62-21) 526 8039 or E-mail: mhidajat.