Kamolthip and Yupa, seemingly the best hope of the Kingdom, came out aggressively to stun Japanese Yuki Yanagawa and Kazuko Sugawara 21-13 21-12 in the third round. The second-seeded Thais continued their winning streak in the quarter-finals, edging out Yue Yuan and Zhang Wenwen of China 21-19 23-21.

Kamolthip, who partnered Jarunee to win the Southeast Asian Games crown in the Philippines two years ago, and Yupa, will now go up against another Chinese pairing, Jiang Zhongji and Jin Jiaeqiong, in the semi-finals this morning.

Top seeds Jarunee Sannok and Usa Tenpaksee also made it to the semi-finals, where they are due to face Chinese Yue and Zhang. The Thai girls yesterday struggled hard to beat Chinese Jiang and Jin 21-17 20-22 16-14 in the quarter-finals. In the third round earlier, Jarunee and Usa powered past inexperienced Nguyen Thi Tiep and Phan Thi Cam Hong of Vietnam 21-18 21-12.

Thailand's C team, Yatika Yaopakdee and Niphaporn Arun, overpowered the much stronger Tatyana Mashkova and Anastasiya Samoylenko of Kazakhstan 23-21 21-16 in a nail-biting third-round match.

In the classification round, the Thai duo continued their good form, coming from behind to beat Vietnamese Nguyen and Phan 16-21 25-23 15-12, but were eventually defeated by Chinese Yue and Zhang 21-8 21-7 and finished fifth.

Meanwhile, all Thai men's teams were eliminated from the event. In the third round, Thai veteran Taweep Thongkamnerd and rising star Sitthichai Sangkhachot surprised Australians Andrew Wyer and Brad Smith 21-13 21-14, but could not maintain their form as they went down to Iranians Agh Mohammad Salagh and Paviz Forokhi 21-15 22-20 in the quarter-finals.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation

Phatthalung