Published on September 11, 2005

[BADMINTON] Thailand’s mixed duo of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam stormed into today’s final of the US$125,000 Asian Badminton Championships after outplaying Hong Kong’s Indonesian-born Albertus Susanta Njoto and Wing Mui Li in straight games yesterday.

In the quarter-finals on Friday, second seeds and world No 6 Sudket and Saralee defeated Indonesian seventh seeds Devin Lehardi and Vita Marissa 17-15 15-5.

The Japan Open champions, who became the highest-profile Thais following their bronze-medal in the recent Anaheim-hosted World Championships in the United States, thrashed the Hong Kong duo 15-4 15-8 in yesterday’s semi-finals.

Today, they face either top seeds Lee Jae-jin and Lee Hyo-jung of South Korea or Muhammad Rizal and Endang Nursugianti of Indonesia in the final.

Meanwhile, local star Boonsak Ponsana’s run in the four-star meet halted in the quarter-finals on Friday after going down in a hard-fought three-game battle to old foe Soni Dwi Kuncoro.

Kuncoro dashed Thailand’s dream of a medal in last year’s Athens Olympic Games by beating Boonsak in straight games in the bronze medal round.

The bitter 15-11 4-15 11-15 loss to the same opponent was a let-down for the 23-year-old former Thailand Open champion, who is keen to bury his upset match against Indonesian ace Taufik Hidayat in the third round of last month’s world meet. Hidayat later went on to win the world title.

Earlier, Boonsak’s younger sister and SEA Games silver medallist Salakjit suffered an early exit after losing to Japanese Hataya Yoshimi 7-11 8-11 in the first round.

Thailand also had a bad day on Friday when second-seeds and world No 6 Saralee and Sathinee Chankrachangwong crashed out in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The semi-finalists in this year’s All-England and Thailand Open were ousted by Indonesia’s unseeded Jo Novita and Greysia Polii 12-15 10-15.

Team-mates Sudket and Phattapol Ngernsrisuk suffered a similar fate by going down to third seeds Tan Bin Shen and Ong Soon Hock of Malaysia 6-15 15-12 10-15 in yesterday’s men’s doubles quarter-finals.

Top-seed Ng Wei of Hong Kong breezed into the semi-finals with a 15-10 15-5 demolition of Ayob Sairul Amar of Malaysia. Kuan Beng Hong of Malaysia and Lee Hyun-Il of South Korea also advanced to the last four with hard-fought wins over Indian opponents.

The Nation, Agencies

HYDERABAD, India

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