Thai ace Boonsak, who routed Pakistan's Waqar Ahmad 15-6 15-0 in a second-round match yesterday morning, was the only Thai men's singles player remaining in the five-day championships after teammate Adisak Wiriyanpadungpong went down 4-15 2-15 to third-seed and Malaysiachampion James Chua of Malaysia in the second round.

Against world number 39 Ng Wei, whom he beat twice in the Indonesian and Hong Kong, Boonsak was at sixes and sevens, trailing 0-11. He played as if he was a novice while his rival used his speed and power to bamboozle the Thai and win the game comfortably at 15-3. The local crowd cajoled Boonsak to lift his game but the Thai kept making errors to go 1-8 behind in the second game.

With defeat staring at his face, the Thai player fought back with his powerful jump smashes and deceptive drop shots to get even at 11-11. That was all the fifth-seeded Boonsak could do as he once again lapsed into errors. His forehand and backhand shots either went out or simply caught the net. Ng clinched the hard-fought game 15-12 and the match.

"I did not play well. After I lost to Anuparb Theeraratsakul in the National Championships early this year, I lost my touch. I am not able to play well. Today, I think I lacked self-confidence and did not maintain my concentration. Ng Wei played well, particularly his cross-court sharp shots which surprised me," said Boonsak, who is currently ranked number 6 in the world.

In the women's singles, Thailand's No-2 Salakjitr found Commonwealth Games gold medallist Li Li of Singapore too tough to handle, going down in the first game 8-11. The small-made Thai put on an amazing display of badminton in the second game, where she forced the eighth-seeded rival to play a tie-breaker. However, she had no answer to Li Li's devastating cross-court smashes to lose 11-13 and the match.

Another Thai, Soratja Chansrisukot, bowed out to Hong Kong's Wang Chen, the second-seed, who won the women's crown in the 2000 edition, in a one-sided affair 1-11 4-11. Top seed and Busan Asian Games gold medallist Zhou Mi of China continued her remarkable run with a convincing 11-3 11-4 victory over Japanese Eriko Hirose, while Chinese defending champ Zhang Ning outgunned another Japanese, Kaori Mori, 11-7 11-5.

Thailand enjoyed mixed luck in the men's doubles second round yesterday. Third seeds Pramote Theerawiwat and Thessana Phanvissawat, who claimed the silver medal at the Busan Asian Games, claimed a sensational 15-7 15-10 victory over inexperienced Yau Tsz Yuk and Wong Tsz Yin of Hong Kong. In today's quarter-finals, the Thai duo go up against Taiwanese Lee Sung Yuan and Lee Wei Hsiang.

Sixth-seeded Thais Khunakorn Suddhisodhi and Pattapol Ngernsrisuk went down to China's Zhang Wei and Chen Qiqiu. Despite getting the overwhelming support of the crowd, the home players failed to muster enough power, losing 4-15 13-15.

Earlier, top seeds and world No 1 South Koreans Ha Tae Kwon and Kim Dong Moon notched up a 15-3 15-3 over Umar Zeeshan and Rizwan Rana.

Second-seeds and Busan Asian Games gold medallists Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung, also from South Korea, dropped the first game 13-15 but took the following two games 15-6 15-8 over Malaysians Lin Woon Fui and Hong Chieng Hun. Indonesians Halim Heryanto and Tri Kusharjanto stunned fourth-seeds Keita Masuda and Tadashi Ohtsuka of Japan 15-11 5-8.

Preechachan Wiriyanupappong