Thais trounce the Philippines to reach semis

The final day of the preliminaries saw defending champions Indonesia thrash All-Star Europe 3-1 and Malaysia outclass All-Star Asia 3-1. Singapore crushed Vietnam 4-0 but both sides failed to make the cut for the semi-finals.

Against the inexperienced Philippines, the Thai squad was represented by Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and Busanan Ongbamrungpan in the men’s and women’s singles rubbers.

Busanan, current world No 18 and winner at last year’s Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold, got Thailand off to a great start with a win despite facing a stiff challenge from Filipina Malvinne Alcala, the world No 302. After winning the first game with ease 21-7, Busanan struggled to hit form to go down 17-21 in the second. The tie-breaker became a hard-fought thriller as both players mixed thundering smashes with dainty drop-shots. The Thai girls fared better to win the closely-contested decider 23-21. It was a similar script in the men’s singles with world No 24 Tanongsak given a hard time by Antonio Benjamin Gadi, currently ranked 459 in the world. However, the All-England semi-finalist covered the court well, went on the attack and beat the in-form Filipino 21-19 22-20 21-19. 

In the mixed doubles, Thailand’s Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul outclassed Phillip J Escueta and Bianca Y Carlos 21-19 21-17 to stretch the lead to 3-0.

World No 12 and last year’s Singapore Open winner Boonsak Ponsana partnered Sudket Prapakamol to trounce Paul J Vivas and Peter G Magnaye 21-18 21-15 in the men’s doubles and complete a clean sweep for Thailand.

Indonesia stayed at the top of the overall standings with 22 points, followed by Malaysia and Thailand with 21 points. Due to their better points won/lost ratio, Malaysia finished second and Thailand third. All-Star Asia finished fourth with 16 points.

Fifth to eighth overall were All-Star Europe, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines with 14, 11, 5 and 2 points respectively.