Shuttler Maneepong back in action after brawl ban
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Doubles specialist Maneepong Jongjit returned to badminton yesterday in the French Open after serving a three-month ban for his on-court brawl with former partner Bodin Issara in Canada.
The world No 12 men’s doubles specialist teamed up with rising star Sapsiree Taerattanachai in mixed doubles qualifying to cruise past French duo Ronan Labar and Emilie Lefel 21-10 21-19.
“I’ve been waiting so long to come back. It’s exciting to return to the circuit again but I need to shake off some rust because I haven’t competed for three months,” Maneepong said.
Three months ago, Maneepong exchanged verbal taunts with his former Olympics partner during the men’s doubles final of the Canadian Open in Vancouver, resulting in Bodin chasing him round the venue before physically assaulting him in front of a shocked crowd. The Badminton World Federation decided to ban Maneepong from all BWF events for three months and Bodin for two years starting from July 21. In his comeback BWF tournament, Maneepong is also due to team up with Nipitphon Puangpuapech in the men’s doubles to play qualifiers in the first round of the main draw.
In the men’s singles first round last night, world No 8 and sixth-seeded Boonsak Ponsana was to play Malaysia’s world No 16 Daren Liew, while Thai No 2 and last week’s Denmark Open semi-finalist Tanongsak Saensonboonsuk, No 19, was to face South Korean world No 37 Lee Dong-keun. Thai No 1 Ratchanok Inaton, also a semi-finalist last week in Denmark, takes on China’s Li Han in the women’s first round today. Porntip Buranaprasertsuk meets Chinese fifth seed Yihan Wang while Nichaon Vigneswaran is drawn against fourth seed Saina Nehwal of India. Meanwhile, Thailand’s junior squad kicks off its campaign today against Canada on the opening day of the World Junior Championships at the Indoor Stadium Hua Mark.
Placed in Group Y2 along with Botswana, Canada and Denmark in the mixed team category, Thailand are spearheaded by the in-form world junior No 1 Bussana Ongbumrungpan, who claimed an Open title in the Netherlands two weeks ago, and world junior No 2 Sitthikom Thammasin. After the tie with Canada due at 12.30pm, Thailand will take on Botswana tomorrow at 9am followed by the last round-robin tie with Denmark at 4pm on the same day.
