Thailand’s challenge ends at quarter-final stage
>> Thai badminton players campaign in the Asia Championships ended at the quarter-final stage yesterday.
The t wo remaining teams of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai (mixed doubles) and Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai (women’s doubles) exited the tournament in China with straight-game defeats.
Eighth seeds Dechapol and Sapsiree went down to Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui of China 16-21, 16-21 at Wuhan Sports Centre.
The Thai pair, who were runnersup last year, also lost to the Zhang and Li in their only other meeting at the 2017 Thailand Masters.
Seventh seeds Jongkolphan and Rawinda fell to No.3 seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan 19-21, 13-21.
In the men’s singles event, fifth seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia knocked out top seed Srikanth Kidambi of India 21-12, 21-15. The Malaysian great faces Kento Momota in today’s semi-final after the Japanese downed seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 21-5, 21-13.
In the bottom half of the draw, China’s third seed Chen Long also made it to the last four after beating No.8 Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 22-24, 21-15, 21-17. He next meets the winner of the last quarterfinal between HS Prannoy of India and second seed Son Wan-Ho of South Korea.
In the women’s singles event, Saina Nehwal of India was the first player to reach the semis after beating Lee Jang Mi of South Korea 21-15, 21-13.
Lee upset fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the previous round. World No.3 PV Sindhu failed to progress to the semi-finals, losing 19-21 10-21 to Korea’s Sung Ji-Hyun.