Thai shuttlers among medal favourites
Busanan hopes to retain singles title while Dechapol and Sapsiree seek doubles glory in Malaysia
>> Despite the absence of the country’s top two singles players, Thailand’s badminton team will head into the 29th SEA Games in Malaysia with plenty of optimism.
With a total of seven gold medals up for grabs at the biennial tournament, Thai shuttlers will be looking to improve on their overall performance from two years ago in Singapore which saw them win two golds, in the women’s singles and women’s team, and two bronzes, in the women’s singles and mixed doubles.
Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, said while the team’s target is to defend the two golds they won in Singapore, there are high hopes in other events as well.
“We will try to defend the women’s singles and women’s team titles in Malaysia. But I believe we can win more than two golds. Our women’s doubles and the mixed doubles teams are very strong and both are title prospects,” Patama said.
“We should also be able to have podium finishes in the men’s team, doubles and singles events.”
Without Ratchanok Intanon and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, who will instead take part in the BWF World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Thailand’s No.2 Busanan Ongbamrungphan will carry the nation’s hopes when she, along with 19 teammates, begin their campaign tomorrow.
Busanan is bidding to retain her women’s singles title in Malaysia and while she admitted the burden of being a defending champion, the world No.12 believes she can thrive under pressure.
“Of course there’s always pressure when you go into any tournament and you know that you shoulder the hopes of the whole country,” said Busanan. “But I will try to use that pressure to motivate myself.”
The Thai women’s team, with Ratchanok in the line-up two years ago, routed Malaysia 3-0 in the final, retaining their title from the 2011 edition in Indonesia. They are chasing their third consecutive gold medal as the team events were not contested in Myanmar in 2013.
After winning their breakthrough title and making their first ever appearance in a Superseries final this year, mixed doubles specialists Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai have been tipped as gold medal hopefuls in Malaysia.
The pair have climbed up to No.9 in the world rankings on the back of their first career win at the Swiss Open in March and two final appearances at the Singapore Open Superseries tournament and the Asian Championships in April.
Apart from t eaming up with Dechapol in Malaysia, Sapsiree will also partner Puttita Supajirakul in the women’s doubles event. The duo, who won the All Thailand Championships title together three weeks ago, are the top seeds at the Games.
Malaysia’s gold medal hopes Khe Wei Woon and Vivien Hoo also picked the Thai duo as their biggest threat in the tournament.
“Our most dangerous opponents are obviously the Thai team of Sapsiree and Puttita, who are top seeds and No.10 in the world. Second seeds and No.13 Jongkolphan [Kittitharakul] and Rawinda [Prajongjai] are also a big threat to our medal hope,” the pair told The Star earlier this month.
The 2017 Games will feature competitions in seven events: Men’s and women’s teams, men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
The two team events take place between Aug 21 and 24 while all the other events will be held from Aug 26-29 at Asiata Arena at Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex in Kuala Lumpur.
The Thai team will leave for Malaysia today.