Kijja and Ariya fail in their quest

Eight teams, including two from The Netherlands, booked their berths in the main draw of the US$190,000 Phuket Thailand Open where 32 teams fight for the pennant at the Karon Beach yesterday.

A total of 40 teams from 24 countries including Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, USA, Japan, China and Thailand tested their mettle in the knock-out round yesterday.

The hosts had mixed fortune in the first round with Aunchalee Yunsuwan and Orradee Phupanee crashing out and the young pairing of Kijja Khantharak and Ariya Laoseangsa advancing with a scintillating 21-7 21-8 victory over taller Marina Pilpenko and Samalikova Bakhtygul from Kazakhstan.

However, the Thai youngsters lost their plot completely in the second round, going down tamely to the much stronger Dutch duo of Danielle Remmers and Sophie van Gestel 21-9 21-8 which meant that only three Thai pairs could make it to today's money round.

They comprise Jarunee Sannok/Usa Tenpaksee, Kamoltip Kulna/Yupa Phukrongploy and Julaluk Radanong/Maneerat Udomchavee. The first two pairs came joint 13th last year.

The eight teams advancing to today's main draw are Danielle Remmers/Sphie van Gestel and Madelein Meppelink/Marloes Wesselink from The Netherlands, Zara Dampney/Shauna Mullin of Great Britain, Anastasia Vasina/Ekaterina Khomyakova of Russia and Galyna Osheyko/Svilana Baburina of Ukraine.

Also advancing as expected are Liliana Fernandez Steiner/Elsa Baquerizo of Spain, Marketa Slukova/Kristyna Kolocova of Czech Republic and Eva Hamzaoui/MathideGiordano from France.