THAI DUO SETTLES AS RUNNERS-UP IN INDIA
Second seeded Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai had to settle for second after losing to Indonesian duo Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 18-21 15-21 in the women’s doubles final of the Yonex Sunrise India Open on Sunday.
The Thai exchanged long exciting rallies with the rivals but they were unable to finish their points. This was their second defeat to the Indonesian pair after the opening round of the Korea Open in June last year.
Jongkolphan and Rawinda reached two finals this year, the first on home soil in the Thailand Masters where they won eventually.
"We tried not to counter-punch with them as they played really fast. We tried to change directions of the shots and sometimes we made easy mistakes. That's what made the difference," Jongkolphan.
"After we saw the draw, we wanted to reach the final as we are the second seed. So we reached our goal. We already tried our best and not to worry about the results," Rawinda said.
Both will have a month rest before entering their next tournament in Germany in early March.
In the women’s singles semi-finals on Saturday night, Ratchanok Intanon went down to top seed P.V. Sindhu of India 13-21 15-21. Ratchanok,however, will rise from No 4 to 3 in the world on Thursday after winning in Malaysia and reaching the semi-final last week in Indonesia.
