Hope for Sudket, Saralee despite loss
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Thailand's mixed duo of Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam went down in straight games yesterday to Japan's Shintaro Ikeda and Reiko Shiota, in their last group round-robin preliminary match of BWF World Superseries Final 2011 in Lizhou China.
Competing in Group B along with Denmark, Taiwan and Japan, the Thai pairing were neck-and-neck at 13-14 in the first set, before the Japanese tandem stepped on the gas to comfortably clinch the opener 21-14.
In the second game, the Japanese foiled a barrage of Thai smashes to seal the game 21-18 and with it the match.
Despite the loss, the Thai duo still have a possible route to today’s semi-finals, should unbeaten Denmark conquer Taiwan in their next match. That would see Thailand, Japan and Taiwan involved in a three-way tie.
