Ratchanok ploughs the lonely furrow

The Thai squad was at the top of the standings in the eight-team tournament with 13 points at the end of the first-round preliminaries last week, while Indonesia came into the tournament as the team to beat, having the fanatical home crowd behind them and an impressive record in team tournaments.

In the first women’s singles rubber, teen prodigy Ratchanok Intanon, world No 8 and runner-up at this year’s All-England and Swiss Open, silenced the cheering Indonesians with her wonderful display of court craft to outplay Lindaweni Fanetri 21-17 21-19 to give Thailand an initial 1-0 lead.

Ratchanok’s exceptional victory over the last year’s India Grand Prix Gold winner stretched Thailand’s lead in the overall standings to 14 points, with Indonesia hot on their heels just two points behind.

However, things turned sour for the Thai camp moments later. World No 18 Tommy Sugiarto, runner-up at this year’s German Open, proved his talent to put hosts Indonesia’s comeback on the right track. 

He was in smashing form on court in a tough match against world No 24 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk. Though playing with incredible speed and jump smashes, Tanongsak produced erratic net play, allowing Sugiarto the strong counter-attacking to register an excellent 21-17 21-14 victory. World No 2 Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, who last year landed three major titles including the India Open and the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, performed brilliantly for a totally one-sided win over Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam 21-12 21-11 to put Indonesia in front 2-1 in the match. 

Indonesia overtook Thailand to the top of the overall standings when world No 13 Angga Pratama and Ryan Agung Saputro, who finished runners-up at the last year’s Chinese Taipei Open and Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, beat Boonsak Ponsana and Songphon Anugritayawon with a crushing 21-16 21-12 victory.

Indonesia’s straight-game win was enough to move them back to the top of the standing with 15 points. Thailand dropped to the second place with 14 points.

 “I’m still happy because the team performed well above expectations,” said Thai team manager Udom Luangphetcharaporn. “Our target is to make the semi-finals and then the final and we hope to maintain our position in the top four this week.”

Local ace and champion at the last year’s Singapore Open Boonsak, who is getting a taste of doubles play, said his decision to play doubles has helped Tanongsak.

“It allowed Tanongsak to prove himself as a capable singles player. My doubles play is improving all the time,” he said.

Elsewhere, Vietnam were due to take on the All-Star Asia, the Philippines to play the All-Star Europe and Singapore to challenge Malaysia in later matches.

Today, the penultimate day of the single round-robin preliminaries of the world’s richest mixed team badminton tournament, Thailand will be pitted against All-Star Europe at 6.30pm Bangkok time.