Shuttlers suffer meltdown
Ratchanok only Thai survivor at All-England Open
Thailand suffered early misery at the All-England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday, with all their players barring world No 10 Ratchanok Inthanon eliminated in opening matches.
World No 8 Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam, who were runners-up last year, suffered a shock in the mixed doubles, going down 21-16 21-16 to South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun and Eom Hye-won. The Thai duo have not won a title since their gold medal in the India Open Grand Prix Gold last year.
The other Thai names that fell by the wayside were Songphon Anugritayawon/
Kunchala Voravichitchaikul and Maneepong Jongjit/Savitree Amitrapai in the mixed doubles, Bodin Issara/ Maneepong Jongjit in the men’s doubles, Duanganong Aroonkesorn/ Kunchala Voravichitchaikul in the women’s doubles, Sapsiree Taerattanachai and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the women’s singles and Thai No 1 Boonsak Ponsana in the men’s singles.
Thai qualifiers Songphon and Kunchala made it tough for local duo Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork, but ultimately lost 21-18 21-18.
Kunchala later partnered Duanganong and took on Huan Xia and Tang Jinhua in the women’s doubles encounter. Luck once again deserted Kunchala and her partner as they lost a tight encounter 21-18 9-21 21-16 to the formidable Chinese.
In the men’s doubles, Thai qualifiers Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit failed to get going in a daunting match against Denmark’s Mads Conrad-Petersen and Jonas Rasmussen and were eliminated 21-14 21-11.
Maneepong then teamed up with Savitree Amitrapai in the mixed doubles and lost 21-13 21-9 to Russian big-hitters Alexandr Nikolaenko and Valeri Sorokina.
In the singles, qualifier Sapsiree Taerattanachai punched above her weight but eventually succumbed to the lethal accuracy of Saina Nehwal. The Indian world No 4 won their gruelling battle 21-11 13-21 21-13.
Team-mate Porntip Buranaprasertsuk met a similar fate, going down tamely 21-10 21-10 to Chinese sixth seed Jiang Yanjiao.
Former Thailand Open champion Boonsak Ponsana, who crashed out in the second round at last week’s German Open, failed to lift his game here, and the current world No 22 was edged by lower-ranked Malaysian Liew Daren, 21-19 23-21.
Teenage titan Ratchanok stepped in to save Thailand’s blushes.
The three-time world junior champion crushed Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip 21-15 21-13 for a shot at South Korean Sung Ji-hyun, who stunned off-form second-seed Wang Xin of China 21-8 21-13.
