Hope for Sudket, Saralee despite loss
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.
