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Published on December 15, 2007

The agony was initiated when Nudnida put on a below-par performance that paved the way for Indonesian top seed Sandy Gumulya's comfortable 6-1 7-6 (7-2)

passage to victory, before an ailing Danai was hammered by Filipino arch-rival Cecil Mamitt 6-3 6-0.

While gold in the women's category was not expected, the men's singles crown was highly anticipated with

two-time champion Danai unbeaten on home soil since August.

But Danai's fortunes took a turn for the worse as an injury on the left foot hindered his court move-ment.

"I was carrying this injury since the Asian Cup but it got worse after the semi-final on Wednesday,'' said Danai, who paid compliments to the same man who beat him for gold at the 2005 Games in Manila.

"Mamitt came up with a good game plan. He was tougher than when I beat him in the team final,''  Danai said.

The 497th-ranked Mamitt, for his part, played a tactical game to outplay Danai.

He responded to the Thai's every move and hardly missed a shot.

The women's singles looked lop-sided with Gumulya exploiting a string of unforced errors from Nudnida to lead 6-1 4-2 and 40-0.

At this stage, the Thai attempted to make a comeback.

She clawed back and had a chance to serve for the second set at 6-5, but failed.

"I was disappointed, not because I lost the match, but because I couldn't play the way I would have wanted. I made so many mistakes in the first set and lost focus in the tie-break,'' said Nudnida who had to settle for the

silver.

In the men's doubles, the Ratiwatana twins - Sonchat and Sanchai - play Mamitt and Frederick Taino at 10am today.

This is followed by the match between Tamarine Tanasugarn and Napaporn Tongsalee and Gumulya and Romana Tedjakusuma.

The last match of the day is the mixed-doubles event with Sanchai and Napaporn taking on Taino and Denise Dy.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

 The Nation