Danai frozen out, Tammy sizzles

Hampered by a nagging right-shoulder injury, former men's singles champion Danai lost his semi-final against American-based Treat Huey of the Philippines on tie-breaks, going down 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (6-8).

Danai, winner in the 2003 Games and losing finalist in 2005 and 2007, needed more than an hour to swallow the pain of defeat before attending the post-match interview.

"It's hard for me to take this loss. I gave my all out there but I couldn't feel anything from my shoulder to my hand. But I have to give credit to my opponent for playing well,'' said Danai, who failed to win a gold medal in Vientiane but takes home a silver from the team event, and a bronze each from the singles and doubles.

 In contrast, Tamarine, already with a team gold medal under her belt, won all her matches yesterday. She and Varatchaya Wongtenchai sailed through their women's doubles match with a 6-1 6-0 win over Ayu Fani Damayanti and Jessy Priscila of Indonesia. The veteran also advanced to the mixed doubles semi-final, teaming up with Sanchai Ratiwatana to beat Jawairiah Noordin and Adam Jaya of Malaysia 6-1 7-5.

Also advancing in the mixed doubles were Varatchaya and Sonchat Ratiwatana, thanks to a 3-6 6-1 10-2 win over Hyunh mai Huynh and Do Minh Quan of Vietnam.

Elsewhere, Nudnida Luangnam and Suchanan Viratprasert lost to Denise Dy and Riza Zalameda of the Philippines 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 0-10 in the women's doubles semi-final.