Thais advance in BLIBLI Indonesia Open
Young gun Kantaphon Wangcharoen upset Thailand Open badminton champion Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the opening round of the BLIBLI Indonesia Open, a BWF World Tour Super 1000, in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The Thai No 2 player, ranked 18th in the world, proved less erratic in the long rallies with the 15th-ranked Japanese as he prevailed 21-19 19-21 21-17 in a marathon battle that lasted 85 minutes.
The 20-year-old Kantaphon lines up a second round clash against seventh-seeded Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia who beat Liu Guanh Zu of China 20-22 23-21 21-18.
Earlier, countryman Suppanyu Avihingsanon was sent packing by fourth-seeded Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-12 21-11.
The Kingdom’s No 1 Khosit Phetpradab will open his account against Malaysian Lee Zii Jia on Wednesday.
On the women’s side, seventh-seeded Ratchanok Intanon had no problem picking off Ruselli Hartawan of Indonesia 21-14 21-14. She was joined in round two by Busanan Ongbamrungohan who ousted Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia 21-15 21-16 and by Nitchaon Jindapol who routed out Chole Birch of ENgland 21-6 21-15.
Pornpawee Chochuwong was the only Thai woman who failed to move on, losing to Indonesian teen prodigy Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-10 21-18.