Badminton medal hopes
Dramatic wins in the round-robin preliminaries on Thursday night moved Thailand a step closer to winning at least bronze medals in the Doha Games although tougher tasks await them today.
The Thai women's team, led by former SEA Games silver medallist Salakjitr Ponsana, recovered from two singles losses to beat Hong Kong 3-2, while the men's side also came from a match behind to take the remaining four games for a 4-1 triumph over Vietnam. With their first win under their belts, Thailand's men's and women's squads now have to overcome South Korea and Singapore respectively. Victories will book them places in the semi-finals and guaranteed bronze medals. The Thai girls played a gallant match against Hong Kong in their opening match on Thursday. Soratja Chansrisukot lost to world No 4 and defending Asian champion Wang Chen in straight games. Monthila Meemek also went down in straight games to Yip Pui Yin. In the men's match, Thai No 1 and former Thailand Open champion Boonsak Ponsana failed to make his mark in the first singles match against Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh, going down to the youngster 2-1(21-18 18-21 21-10). Despite this loss, the Thai players showed their class by winning the remaining four matches.
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