Boonsak, Sudket and Saralee On Mission

Boonsak pumps his fist after his quarter-final victory.

"Super Man"  Boonsak Ponsana along with Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam successfully booked their semi-final spots in the SCG Thailand Open Badminton Gold Grand at the Nimibutr Gymnasium.

Fourth-seeded Boonsak recovered from a below par play in the first game to eliminate  South Korean qualifier Tae Sang Park 11-21 21-13 21-9 in the men's singles quarter-final before 3,000 spectators.

"I started slowly because I didn't have enough warm-up. However I came back to take control and finish off the match,'' said the 2004 champion. He will face Chinese top seed Jin Chen who ousted Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia  21-5 21-14.

"I have to be really solid. But I have nothing to lose in the match and if I win. It will be a bonus,'' said the world No 10 Boonsak.

Top seeds Sudket  and Saralee spent only 37 minutes to pick off  sixth-seeded Devin Lahardi Fitriawan and Lita Nurlita of Indonesia 21-16 21-17 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.

 "Although we are the top seeds, it doesn't make us different from other pairs as they are also tough. We need to play at high level and remain confident in our game,'' said Sareela who will next play Chinese third-seeded Hanbin He and Yang Yu.

In the women's actions, Salakjit Ponsana's journey came to the end after she went down to  Aiying Xing of Singapore 14-21 13-21.

Mi Zhou of Hong Kong knocked out second-seeded Huaiwen Xu of Germany 21-18 10-21 21-4. Top seed Lin Zhu edged out Germany's Juliane Schenk 21-18 12-21 21-18 whereas third-seeded Hongyan Pi of China beat Tracey Hallam of England 21-13 21-14.

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation