Busanan, Sitthikorn out to take on the world

The 17-year-old Busanan, who captured her first title this year in Almere with a 21-12 21-12 victory over Singapore’s Juan Gu on Sunday, and the 18-year-old Sitthikorn, will be making their third appearance in the event, which has attracted around 600 players from 40 countries. Competition will be held in six categories – the mixed team, men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

“I’m quite happy because this is my first Open title of the year. The victory has given me a big boost going into the World Junior Championships,” said Busanan, No 18 in the BWF rankings and No 1 in the junior rankings.

Busanan, who has been playing in the senior circuit more frequently, reached the quarter-final last year, which is by far her best result in the World Junior Championships. Last year she won her maiden title in Malaysia and proved that she is a force to be reckoned with by taking Thai ace Ratchanok Intanon to three tough games in the Thailand Open final in June.

“My aim is to play well in every match I enter. But there will be strong competition from China, Japan and South Korea. I hope the support from fans will help me through.”

Standing 181 centimetres tall, Sitthikorn gained huge recognition a few months ago in the Thailand Open when he upset a series of seeded players, including Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto (2nd), Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (16th) and Taiwan’s Jen Hao Hsu (7th) before losing in the semi-finals to the eventual champion K Srikanth of India. He also reached the final of the national championship last month, losing to world No 4 Boonsak Ponsana.

“The goal is to win but I don’t want to put myself under pressure. I just have to give it one match at a time and stay focused,” said the well-built teenager, who captured a junior title in the Netherlands this year. He reached the last 16 in 2011 but lost in the first round in his first two attempts in the event.

The teenager admitted he had to cope with rising expectations from everyone, which put a lot of pressure on his shoulders and subsequently led to sluggish results. He even had to seek help from a psychologist for advice on how to deal with tense situations.

“I cannot hit my shots when I am under pressure. So I was told to do some meditation which really helped. Before a match I get away from everyone to be with myself and pray. Then I can go onto the court really focused,” said Sitthikorn who was in the same team with Busanan that won the World Junior Mixed Team Championship last year.

Thailand have been placed in the Y2 group along with Denmark, Botswana, and Canada. If they win, the hosts are likely to take on Y1 group favourites Japan in the quarter-finals. Thailand lost to Japan 3-1 in the semi-finals last year. “I hope we can reach the semi-finals in the mixed team but we have to beat Japan to achieve that. It won’t be easy.” 

A total of 25 Thais will take part in the event. TrueVisions will beam live the mixed team matches between October 25 and 28 and the singles quarter-finals from November 1 onwards.