Sudket and Saralee stay alive in China
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Thailand's mixed doubles duo of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thungthongkam came from behind to beat Taiwan's Chen Hung Ling and Cheng Wen Hsing 15-21 21-16 21-12 and stay alive in the US$500,000 World Superseries Finals in Liuzhou, China yesterday.
Sudket and Saralee, ranked No 6 in the world, are the only Thai players in the top-flight, season-ending tournament, which features the top eight in each event.
The Thai duo on Wednesday lost their first match 21-15 21-17 to Denmark’s Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in the first match of the round-robin contest.
Against the world No 5 yesterday, Sudket and Saralee started nervously to lose the first set. They came back with explosive shots to lead 20-11 in the second game before the Taiwanese roared back to win five straight points to narrow the gap at 16-20. However, Sudket produced a lightning smash to end the rivals’ challenge.
The third game was completely dominated by the Thais. The win gave Sudket and Saralee high hopes of advancing to the semi-finals. The Thais today take on Japan’s Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota, who yesterday suffered their second loss of the tournament at the hands of the Danish duo.
With only top two teams advancing to the semi-finals, the Danes are assured of a berth. They take on the Taiwanese in the third and last match. Both the Thais and the Taiwanese badly needed a win to ensure their survival. The Japanese became the first team to crash out from the mixed doubles event.
