Talented Janejira Srisongkram brought joy to the Kingdom on a day when Thais celebrated their National Day, winning two medals including a silver in the women's double trap at the 15th Asian Games.

The 21-year-old Janejira, double gold medallist at last year's Asian meet in Bangkok, capped an impressive performance yesterday to shoot a combined three-round 103 points, just two points behind winner Son Hye Kyong from South Korea. Another Korean, Lee Bo Na came in third with 101 points.

"I had not targeted a medal here [at the Asiad]. I just did my best. However, I think a one-month training stint in Australia paid off," said Janejira, who stands 157cm tall and weighs 46kg. "I made a mistake in the third round and Son surged ahead of me. It's an expensive lesson I have to learn for future major competitions."

Janejira teamed up with Punnapa Asvanit and Supornpan Chewchalermmit to also pick up a bronze in the double trap team event after scoring a combined 275 points. Korea and China claimed the first two spots with 303 and 288 points, respectively.

Thai pistol specialist Jakkrit Panichpatikum still could not find his form in Doha. Though he made it to the final yesterday, Jakkrit shot 97.5 points in the final round for a combined total of 656.6 points to finish a distant seventh.

Team-mate Tanyaporn Prucksakorn also did not fare well in the women's 25m pistol event, shooting a below-par 570 points to finish 20th in the qualifying round.

Meanwhile, another Thai fighter showed his expertise yesterday in the boxing competition. Athens Olympics hero Manus Boonjumnong outpointed Chinese Xia Wenjie 14-11 to secure a light welterweight quarter-final berth. Middleweight Suriya Prasarthinpimai was due to take on Turkmenistan's Shukuralla Atajanov later yesterday. A possible win will also book him a place in the quarter-finals.

So far, four Thai pugilists have already made it to the quarter-finals. They are Manus, Worapoj Petchkoom, Suban Punnon and Somjit Jongjohor. Only Sailom Adi and Pichai Sayota crashed out in their second-round bouts on Monday. The table tennis players became the first Thai athletes to pack up their bags. After losing in the team and the doubles events on Monday, Nanthana Komwong and Anisara Muangsuk were yesterday knocked out in the first round of the women's singles event. Nanthana went down to Japanese Ai Fukuhara 1-4 and Anisara was eliminated 4-3 by Singaporean Li Jia Wei.

In badminton, only three Thai players stepped on the courts in the first round yesterday. Former SEA Games silver medallist Salakjit Ponsana thrashed Iranian Behnaz Pirzamanbein 2-0 in the women's singles event, while team-mates Sudket Prapakamol and Phattapol Ngernsrisuk outclassed Macau's Chan Io Chong and Lo Ion Weng in straight games in the men's doubles competition.

In volleyball, the Thai women's team suffered their second straight loss, going down to Japan yesterday in straight sets 22-25 20-25 23-25. With the loss following the previous day's 1-3 loss to Kazakhstan, the Thai women finished third in Group B after completing their group round-robin preliminaries.

The men's side, which lost 1-3 to Bahrain in their first match, were due to take on Macau later yesterday before going up against Taiwan tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Thai swimmers made big waves in the preliminary heats yesterday when the women's quartet of Wenika Kaewchaiwong, Natthanan Junkrajang, Jiratida Phinyosophon and Pailin Tachakrittiranan captured the top spot in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay in 8min 38.92sec. However, China and Japan proved to be the two fastest teams to make the final. The Chinese achieved a time of 8:07.90, while the Japanese timed 8:18.63.

Team-mate Thanawat Thanakornworakiart clocked 4:01.92 to come in third in the preliminary heats and qualify for the men's 400m freestyle final. His chance to win a medal is bleak due to the presence of strong rivals from Japan, China and Taiwan in the showdown.

Thailand's baseball team suffered a 0-6 drubbing by Japan yesterday, their fourth successive loss in the Doha Games. After going down to China 1-4, Taiwan 0-16, Korea 1-12 and 0-6 to Japan in the single round-robin competition, Thailand today take on the Philippines. Their chance of finishing among the top three is now impossible.

The Thai snooker trio of Phaithoon Phonbun, Supoj Saenla and Kobkiit Palajin suffered a stunning 0-3 loss to the South Korean men in the last 16 yesterday.

China won both time trials on the road cycling course.

Song Baoqing coasted to a comfortable win over Kyrgyzstan's Evgeny Vakker and women's defending champion Li Meifang was almost a minute faster than her nearest rival in the road cycling individual time trial.

Baoqing finished with a time of 53 minutes, 33.35 seconds on 44.8-kilometre (27.8-mile) Al-Kor on the Qatar coast north of Doha. Li won the women's race in 31:17.85, beating out Zulfiya Zabirova of Kazakhstanwon.

"The road feels good," Li said.

Preechachan     Wiriyanupappong

The Nation

Doha