Ratchanok crashes out in second round of Swiss Open

FRIDAY, March 18, 2016

Second-seeded Ratchanok Intanon suffered a shock defeat to unseeded Chinese He Bingjiao to crash out in the second round of the US$120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championships in Basel, Switzerland on Thursday.

Ratchanok, the Asian winner, world No.5 and this year's Thailand Masters champion, always became the last Thai survivor in several major competitions including the recent All-England World Superseries Premier, in which the 2013 world champion went down in straight games to Spaniard Carolina Marin, title-holders, world No.1 and successive two-time world champion, in the quarter-finals.

However, things turned sour for sensation Ratchanok this time as she was eliminated just in the second round after going down to world No.20 He Bingjiao 21-14 18-21 13-21.

However, many Thai players had paraded to the quarter-finals, with eighth seeded Busanan Ongbumrungphan brushing off Dane Mia Blichfeldt 21-18 21-15. Hoping for a strong comeback after going down in the last year's showdown, Busanan will next face a daunting task in the quarter-final match against third seeded and Incheon Asian Games gold medallist Wang Yihan from China. Team-mate Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, showed no mercy to Maria Ulitina by crushing the Ukrainian rival 21-13 21-14 to go up against Chinese fifth seeded and title-holder Sun Yu in the quarter-finals.

In the men's singles, 16th seeded Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk thrashed Indian Sameer Verma in straight games 21-15 21-19 to make it through to the quarter-finals, in which he is due to take on another Indian, H.S. Prannoy.

Bodin Issara/Nipitphon Puangpuapetch akeep the Thai men's doubles hopes alive when they beat Germans Fabian Holzer/Johannes Pistorius 21-8 23-21 to next challenge Danes Mathias Christians/David Daugaard in the quarter-finals.

Two Thai pairings advanced to the quarter-finals in the women's doubles, with eight seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai taking on Malaysian fourth seeds Kah Vivian Hoo/Khe Wai Woon and Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai playing Chinese Tang Jinhua/Huang Yaqiong.

In the mixed doubles, Bodin Issara/Savitree Amitrapai will meet England's Matthew Nottingham/Emily Westwood in the quarter-finals, while Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai will be pitted against Chinese Wang Yilyu/Chen Qingchen.