BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : DAILY REPORT : TENNIS : Fernandezes Win, Clinch Medal in Women’s Doubles

American Mary Joe Fernandez clinched her second Olympic medal Tuesday, teaming with Gigi Fernandez to beat Mariaan de Swardt and Elna Reinach of South Africa, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles.

The victory moved the unrelated Fernandez women into Thursday’s semifinals against Leila Meskhi and Natalia Zvereva of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The losers of both semifinal matches will receive bronze medals.

“We’re trying to enjoy the moment of being here,” said Mary Joe Fernandez, who is scheduled to play top-seeded Steffi Graf of Germany today in the semifinals of women’s singles. “We really want to win the gold medal, but if we’re enjoying it, we’re more relaxed.”

In men’s singles, Jordi Arrese of Spain overcame four set points in the second set and swept Leonardo Lavalle of Mexico, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, in a quarterfinal match. Arrese will face Andrei Cherkasov of the CIS in Thursday’s semifinals. Cherkasov needed 4 hours 10 minutes to defeat Jaime Oncins of Brazil, 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2.

TABLE TENNIS

China Wins Men’s Doubles as Asia Maintains Dominance

Lu Lin and Wang Tao of China maintained Asia’s stranglehold on Olympic table tennis competition, defeating Germans Steffen Fetzner and Jorg Rosskopf to win the men’s doubles gold medal.

The Chinese won, 26-24, 18-21, 21-18, 13-21, 21-14, in an Estacio del Nord stadium packed to the rafters with cheering, chanting German supporters.

The teams of Kang Hee and Lee Chul, and Kim Taek and Yoo Nam, all of South Korea, won bronzes.

Chinese or South Korean players won all four single and doubles golds in 1988 at Seoul, the first Olympics where table tennis was a medal sport. And China’s Deng Yaping and Qiao Hong won the women’s doubles Monday.

“We’ve played in all possible competitions this year with a view to winning the Olympic doubles,” said Lu, who was not affected by the cheering German supporters.

“We’ve seen such reactions from the public at the Asian Games. In the course of our pre-Olympic training, we trained ourselves psychologically to put up with that sort of thing.”

In the women’s singles semifinals, Deng outscored Hyun Jung Hwa of South Korea, 21-6, 21-19, 21-17, and Deng’s doubles partner, Qiao, defeated Li Bun Hui of North Korea, 15-21, 21-15, 21-8, 21-11.

BADMINTON

Couple Gives Indonesia Its First Gold Medals Ever

Indonesians Susi Susanti and Allan Budi Kusuma shared double history, winning the Olympic badminton singles gold medals--the first in the sport and the first Olympic golds for their country.

The top-seeded Susanti beat South Korean Bang Soo Hyun, 5-11, 11-5, 11-3, in the women’s singles final, and Kusuma, runner-up in the 1991 World Championships and Susanti’s boyfriend, beat compatriot Ardy Wiranata, 15-12, 18-13, in the men’s final.

Badminton is making its debut as a medal sport at these Games. Indonesia’s only previous Olympic medal was a silver in archery.

Indonesia was denied a third gold when its men’s doubles team of Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan lost to top-seeded South Koreans Park Joo Bong and Kim Moon Soo, 15-11, 15-7.

South Korea also won the women’s doubles title, with top-seeded Hwang Hye Young and Chung So Young defeating Guan Weizhen and Nong Qunhua of China, 18-16, 12-15, 15-13, in the final.

MEDALISTS TABLE TENNIS (Men’s Doubles) GOLD: Lu Lin and Wang Tao (China) SILVER: Steffen Fetzner and Jorg Rosskopf (Germany) BRONZE: (tie) Kim Taek Soo, Yoo Nam Kyu (South Korea) BRONZE: Kang Hee Chan, Lee Chul Seung (South Korea) BADMINTON (Men’s Singles) GOLD: Alan Budi Kusuma (Indonesia) SILVER: Ardy Wiranata (Indonesia) BRONZE: (tie) Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen (Denmark) BRONZE: Hermawan Susanto (Indonesia) (Men’s Doubles) GOLD: Kim Moon Soo and Park Joo Bong (South Korea) SILVER: Eddy Hartono and Rudy Gunawan (Indonesia) BRONZE: (tie) Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi (China) BRONZE: Sidek Razif and Sidek Jalani (Malaysia) (Women’s Singles) GOLD: Susi Susanti (Indonesia) SILVER: Bang Soo Hyun (South Korea) BRONZE: (tie) Huang Hua (China) BRONZE: Tang Jiuhong (China) (Women’s Doubles) GOLD: Hwang Hye Young, Chung So Young (South Korea) SILVER: Guan Weizhen and Nong Qunhua (China) BRONZE: (tie) Gil Young Ah, Shim Eun Jung (South Korea) BRONZE: Lin Yanfen and Yao Fen (China) PELOTA (Demonstration Sport) (Men’s Palette Leather) GOLD: Argentina SILVER: Spain BRONZE: France (Men’s Frontenis) GOLD: Mexico SILVER: Spain BRONZE: Argentina (Men’s Cesta Punta) GOLD: Spain SILVER: France BRONZE: Mexico (Women’s Frontenis) GOLD: Mexico SILVER: Spain BRONZE: Cuba