Sudket, Saralee sail into quarters
[BADMINTON] The Thai top mixed doubles team of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam eased into the quarter-finals in the World Badminton Championships in Madrid yesterday after trouncing French underdogs Svetoslav Stoyanov and Elodie Eymard 21-13 21-12 in the third round.
The duo, who carry the nation's hopes of a major medal, next take on Poland's Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk, ranked 10th in the world. In the women's doubles, world No 7 duo of Saralee and Sathinee Chankrachangwong have a Herculean task as they face defending champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, the Chinese world No 2, in the quarter-finals today. The Thais came from behind to beat the Japanese pair of Aki Akao and Tomomi Matsuda, ranked lower than them, 18-21 27-25 21-18 in the third round. It was, however, a disappointing day for the Thais in the men's doubles and men's singles events where they were eliminated. Local ace Boonsak Ponsana's quest for a title this year once again has faltered. He made it to the men's singles final in the Asian Championships but failed to lay his hands on the trophy. Yesterday the world No 10 suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Japan's Shoji Sato 21-15 21-18 in the second round. Fellow countrymen Sudket and Patapol Ngernsrisuk fell to world No 10 duo Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia 22-20 21-13 in the men's doubles second round. The Thai pair had no answer to the guile of Malaysia's world No 6 Mohd Tazari Mohd Fairuzizuan and Lin Woon Fui 15-9 15-2 at the same stage of the tournament last year.
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