Cool Boonsak guns down South Korean

Boonsak, the world No 10 and last year's runner-up, spent only 25 minutes in beating South Korean Ahn Hyun Suk 21-10 21-10 in the second round. The Thai will next take on Malaysian Yeoh Kay Bin in the last 16 round. Yeoh struggled hard yesterday to beat Japanese Tago Kenichi 21-13 15-21 22-20.

Team-mate Soratja Chansrisukot powered past Taiwanese Huang Chia Hsin 21-19 21-16 in the women's first round, but fell victim to Hong Kong's Chinese-born Wang Chen, the top seed and title-holder, 21-13 21-14 in the second round yesterday.

Meanwhile, Phattapol Ngernsrisuk and Nutthapon Narkthong outclassed Filipinos Babad Andrei and Ang Kelvini Tim 21-9 21-19 in the men's doubles first round. The Thai duo next take on Malaysians Ong Soon Hock and Tan Bin Shen, who spent only 14 minutes on the court in thrashing Taiwanese Chien Yu Hsun and Lin Yu Lang 21-3 21-8.

Duang-Anong Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul also cleared their first hurdle, surviving a stiff challenge from Malaysians Chor Hooi Yee and Wong Wai See 24-22 21-18. The Thai girls next challenge top seeds Cheng Wen Hsing and Chien Yu Chin of Taiwan.

The other Thai players were eliminated from the US$125,000 tournament. Top seeds and world No 13 Songphon Anukgritayawon and Kunchala were the first two Thais to crash out from the star-studded competition when the mixed duo lost a three-game thriller 13-21 21-18 19-21 to unseeded Hoon Tien How and Ooi Sock Ai of Malaysia in the opening round.

Rising star Poompat Sapkul-chananart went down to India's Anup Sridhar in the second round.