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Published on August 16, 2007

After winning their first gold in the mixed team event last Saturday, Thailand brought the curtain down on the badminton competition with a bang and a lion's share of three out of the six gold medals.

Boonsak Ponsana in the men's singles and Sudket Prapakamol and Phattapol Ngernsrisuk in the men's doubles were irresistible.

It was a second upset win for Boonsak who had defeated world No 2 Chen Hong in the team event.

Boonsak at first found the strongly-built Chen too hot to handle. The Thai was clueless against his rival's lightning-fast jump smashes and lost the first game 21-17.

The setback hardly bothered the Thai player, who came back stronger in the second game to win 21-15. Boonsak started attacking and his speed troubled the Chinese veteran time and time again in the decider.

His accuracy and court craft bamboozled his opponent. Chen saved two match points before a smash to the sidelines gave Boonsak a victory that he richly deserved. It sent the vociferous e crowd in the Gymnasium 2 inside the Thammasat Rangsit Sports Complex into a delirium.

"I'm really delighted. I hope I gave plenty of joy to my supporters," said Boonsak, who will get Bt2 million for his efforts.

"He was too good at the net in the first set. I hate to lose points and I put myself under pressure. Later on, I stayed calm and made him run around the court," said Boonsak, who will compete in the Thailand Professional Masters in Lop Buri next month.

It was an identical story in the men's doubles final. Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Phattapol Ngernsrisuk lost the first game 21-17 but bounced back with a 21-17 21-14 decimation of Taiwanese pair Thai Chia-hsin and Hsieh Yu-hsing.

In basketball, Thai women edged Brazil 67-65 in the 13th-16th classification round, while their men's team takes on Angola in the 21st-24th classification round today.

In the women's volleyball semi-finals today, Thai women, who suffered their only defeat against Spain, go up against Serbia in the semi-finals. China take on Poland in the other semi-final. The Thai men's team yesterday succumbed 3-0 to Poland in the 9th-16th classification round and play Korea this afternoon.

Thailand have surpassed their initial target of 10 gold medals. They have collected 11 gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals and are in sixth place.

Meanwhile, Larry Rink, chairman of the International University Sport Federation (Fisu) medical commission, rejected reports that had quoted him as saying that positive results had been found.

"We have completed 276 tests and I'm happy to say all tests to date have been negative," he said. "There are no positive tests. I believe I was misquoted.

"There are no positive tests. I strongly object to the term 'scandal' being used in the reporting," he told a special media conference, flanked by a visibly annoyed Eric Saintrond, the Fisu director general.

Preechachan     Wiriyanupappong

Somporn Suphop

The Nation

Pathum Thani