Hopes of a home victory were short-lived on the penultimate day of the US$150,000 (Bt6.5 million) Asian Badminton Championships when three Thai pairs went down, with mixed doubles pair Khunakorn Suddhisodhi and Saralee Thungthongkham losing the final to the world and Sydney Olympics champions from China.

Competing in front of HSH Princess Siriwanwaree Mahidol and an estimated 2,000 local enthusiasts at the Nimibutr Gymnasium, top seeds and Asian Games silver medallists Khunakorn and Saralee made a flying start and led 5-1 thanks to Saralee's splendid form at the net. China's Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, however, set theng game alight with a thrilling fightback against the local players.

Zhang struck back with a display of dazzling badminton to level at 5-5 before stretching it to 8-5. Gao then produced several devastating cross-court smashes to help the Chinese win the first-game 11-7. The Thais again started strongly and led 6-2 in the second game, but the Chinese showed their level of expertise and experience and fought back.

The Chinese duo showed why they are world and Olympic champions, smashing fiercely at the net to tie the score at 8-8. As the Thais became more prone to unforced errors, Zhang seized the chance to penetrate the Thai defence with relentless attacks to move ahead 10-8.

China captured the game 11-8 and the mixed doubles crown after a mid-court smash from Gao went unanswered. It was Zhang's second victory in the prestigious tournament. The Chinese star partnered Liu Lu in 1997.

"We made too many unforced mistakes," said Khunakorn. "My smashes did not work well. As I tried to improve my smashes, Zhang grabbed his chance and made several fast returns which we could not retrieve. I give them a big thumbs up for their magnificent performance.

"We lost to the Chinese pair at last year's World Grand Prix in Brunei. However, I think we came out with the tremendously improved tactics. It's just a pity we could not overcome our nerves and made unforced mistakes. If not, we might win the first title ever for Thailand in the Asian meet," he added.

Third seeds Pramote Theerawiwat and Thessana Phanvissawat were also Thai casualties yesterday after a loss to Indonesians Candra Wijaya and Sugit Budiarto in the men's doubles semi-finals. The fifth-seeded Indonesians, who on the previous day stunned Asian Games gold medallists and second seeds Lee Dong Soo and Yoo Yong Sung of South Korea, trailed the Thais for most of the first game.

After levelling at 16-16, Pramote and Thessana failed to take the service-game advantage, losing the crucial point and the first game 17-16. In the second game, the Indonesians led from start to finish and eventually won the game 15-7 and a berth in the final. They next go up against world number one and top seed Ha Tae Kwon and Kim Dong Moon, who yesterday thrashed Indonesians Halim Heryanto and Tri Kusharjanto .

In the women's doubles semi-finals, Thailand's second seed and Chinese Taipeichampions Saralee Thungthongkham and Sathinee Chankrajangwong went down to China's Zhong Jiewen and Yang Wei 6-11 2-11. Zhong and Yang now take on world champions Gao Ling and Huang Sui, who beat team-mates Wei Yili and Zhao Tingting 11-5 11-1, in an all-Chinese final.

Apart from a certain gold medal in the women's doubles, China is also assured of winning the women's singles crown after top seed and Asian Games champion Zhou Mi and third-seed and defending champion Zhang Ning progressed safely through to the final. Zhou barely broke into a sweat in crushing off-form Singaporean Xiao Luxi 11-0 11-1, with Zhang outplaying second seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong 11-2 11-4.

Indonesia are also confident of winning the men's singles title as unseeded Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro stunned world number one and All-England champion Chen Hong in straight games to challenge Taufik Hidayat, who surprised top seed Xia Xuanze of China to set up an all-Indonesian final today.

Preechachan Wiriyanupappong