Khunakorn and Saralee advance

Yvonne Bohwongprasert

Thailand managed to power their way into the quarter-finals of three categories at the 2002 Asian Badminton Championships yesterday.

But in one of the biggest upsets of the day, Hong Kong's Ng Wei thrashed Thailand's fifth seed and world number six, Boonsak Polsana 15-3, 15-12.

The 176cm tall shuttler, who plays for Hong Kong BA Club, breezed through the first set but narrowly won the decider when the Thai began to stage a comeback.

With the level of competition rising to world class standard with the likes of a handful of top ten ranked IBF players making their appearance, there was plenty of nail biting excitement for the spectators at the Nimibutr Gymnasium.

There was fierce competition awaiting Thailand's top shuttlers in all their respective categories in a day which saw their men's doubles and mixed doubles pairs sail comfortably to the next round.

The veteran Busan Games silver medallists duo of Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisvas didn't disappoint the local fans when they defeated the Hong Kong duo of Yau Tsz Yuk and Wong Tsz Yin by 15-7, 15-10.

The Thais became a force to reckon with after taking an untroubled 7-2 lead, but then Yau and Wong picked up the tempo by reeling off the next three points. The highly experienced Thais, nevertheless, chipped away point by point until a desperate attempt to smash by Yau landed out to hand the first set 15-7 to the Thais.

There was a more concentrated effort by the Hong Kong lads in the second game, but once again Tessana and Pramote were at the top of their game. The Thais took an early 12-5 lead, but their opponents hit back with some fine cross court shots of their own to cut the deficit to 13-10. There was, however, little that could be done to salvage the match when the heavy-set Tessana's stinging jump smash wrapped up the proceeding 15-10.

Pramote and Tessana will now meet the Singaporean pair of Patrick Lau Kim Pong and Hendri Kurniawan Suputra, who thrashed Taiwan's Lee Sung Yuan and Lin Wei Hsiang 15-8, 15-6.

Mixed doubles top seeds Khunakorn Sudhisodhi and Saralee Thungthongkam, who are also Thailand silver medallists at the 14th Asian Games, didn't break into a sweat as they overcame Taipei's Yang Hung Wen and Cheng Wen Hsing by 11-4, 11-3.

Saralee said that their quarter-finals match against third seeded Indonesians Tri Ksuharjanto and Emma Ermawati will be a very close one because their record against them hasn't been very impressive.

``So far, we haven't really been challenged. But it's going to be tough against the Indonesians. They are an attacking pair, and so we hope to mix our shots well to keep them on the back foot,'' said Saralee.

In the ladies doubles, Saralee and Sathinee Chankrachangwong demolished Vietnam's Le Ngoc Nhung and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao 11-1, 11-3.

In the ladies singles, teenager Salakjit Polsana put on a brave performance before losing to eighth seed Singaporean Li Li 11-8, 13-11. Another budding junior, 17-year-old Surin native Soratja Chansrisukot was overwhelmed by second seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong 11-1, 11-4. Another feisty performance by the young Thais came in the women's doubles when Salakjit and Soratja pushed the Malaysian pair of Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty to three games before going down 11-2, 6-11,11-4. Khunakorn and Patapol Ngernsrisuk were beaten by China's Zhang Wei and Chen Qiqiu, 15-4,15-13.