Late heroics propel Thais to semi-finals
Thailand booked their place in the semifinals of the Sudirman Cup after a battling 3-2 win over Denmark at Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium i n Gold Coast, Australia yesterday.
Jongkolphan Kittitharakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai won the decisive women’s doubles tie to seal the place in the last four for Thailand, matching their previous best in the tournament in 2013.
The Thai duo, who paired up for the first time yesterday, stunned world No.2 and Olympic silver medallists Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen 21-15, 21-12.
They were mobbed by jubilant teammates at the end of the match and the team will now go on to meet South Korea in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
They will hope to gain a revenge as they lost to the Koreans when they reached the semi-finals of the 2013 tournament in Malaysia. They shared third place with Denmark.
World No.9 Ratchanok Intanon earlier claimed the must-win women’s singles tie against No.25 Line Kjaersfeldt 21-15, 21-14 to force the decisive women’s doubles after Denmark had taken the men’s singles and men’s doubles for a 2-1 lead.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree got Thailand off to a great start by winning their mixed doubles battle against Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen 21-19, 21-19.
Viktor Axelsen levelled the things up for Denmark as the men’s world No.3 proved too strong for No.11 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, crushing the Thai 21-15, 21-6 in just 31 minutes.
Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieter Kolding then put the tie in Denmark’s favour with a 15-21, 21-18, 21-16 win over Bodin Isara and Nipitphon Phuangphuapet in an hour and eight minutes.
In the day’s other quarter-final, South Korea took an unbeatable 3-1 lead Taiwan after winning the mixed doubles, men’s singles and women’s doubles.
Choi Sol-Gyu and Seo Seung-Jae won the first point for the Koreans after beating Lee Jhe-huei and Lee Yang 21-16, 14-21, 21-17.
Women’s world No.1 Tai Tzu-ying put Taiwan back on track with a 21-14, 26-24 win over Sung Ji-Hyun before Son Wan-Ho beat Chou Tien-chen 13-21, 21-18, 23-21 in the men’s singles tie.
Chang Ye-Na and Lee So-Hee then effectively won the tie for the Koreans after beating Hsu Ya-ching and Wu Ti-jung 21-13, 21-18 for a 3-1 lead.
In the remaining quarter-finals today, defending champions and 10-time winners China take on India and Japan play Malaysia.