Crushing wins see Thailand through
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Thailand stormed their way to group qualification at badminton's Thomas and Uber Cup Preliminaries in Macau yesterday, with their men's side mercilessly crushing Kazakhstan 5-0 and their SEA Games gold-winning women's team devastating Sri Lanka by a simil
In the Thomas Cup, the world men’s team competition, Thailand, who outclassed Sri Lanka 5-0 in their opening Group C clash the previous day, lived up to expectations to overwhelm unfancied Kazakhstan.
World No 20 and former Thailand Open champion Boonsak Ponsana, who faced a fight against Sri Lankan Niluka Karunaratne in his previous match before winning a closely-contested 22-20 tie-breaker, found his rhythm yesterday. The Thai star beat inexperienced Kazakh Artur Niyazov 21-10 21-7 in just 18 minutes to give the country a 1-0 lead.
Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, who beat Athens Olympics gold medallist Taufik Hidayat twice in last year’s SEA Games, then downed Samat Yerzhakanov 21-12 21-15, with Pakkawat Vilailak taming Anton Klyam 21-7 21-5 in 14 minutes to help Thailand race to a 3-0 lead and ensure victory and a place in the second-round stage.
Thailand won the remaining two matches with the impressive duo of Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit powering past Artur Niyazov and Askar Ormanov 21-10 21-9 and Patipat Chalardchaleam/Nipitphon Puangpuapech pounding Samat Yerzhakanov and Anton Klyam 21-3 21-8.
Today, the Thais go up against formidable Japan in a battle to end top of Group C. The Japanese yesterday pulled off a scintillating 5-0 win over Sri Lanka.
The Uber Cup, the world women’s team event, saw Thailand secure a berth in the second round by whitewashing Sri Lanka for a second straight victory in the group round-robin preliminaries.
Thai teen sensation Ratchanok Inthanon thrashed Thilini Jayasinghe in straight games 21-9 21-5 yesterday, before world No 14 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk added another point to the Thai tally with a 21-12 21-11 win over Renu Chandrika Hettiarachchige.
Nichaon Jindapon stretched the lead to 3-0 when she crushed Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa 21-7 21-4. Duanganong Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul combined well to thrash Renu Chandrika Hettiarachchige and Lekha Shehani 21-4 21-10 in 16 minutes, while Savitree Amitrapai and Sapsiree Taerattanachai capped things off with a 21-5 21-4 lesson for Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa and Kavindi Ishandika Sirimannage.
Today, the Thai women will battle it out against SEA Games arch-rivals Indonesia to determine the Group Y winners.
