Boonsak

Thai star books quarter-final spot after taming Indian rival in hard-fought duel

Local ace Boonsak Ponsana led a strong home charge with a hard-fought victory in the SCG Thailand Open Badminton Championship at the Nimibutr Indoor Stadium yesterday.

The world No 14 was made to toil against unheralded Indian rival Anup Sridhar before securing his passage into the quarter-finals with a 21-11 28-26 victory.

It looked as if Boonsak would have a cakewalk after he raced to claim the first game within minutes.

In the second, Boonsak was leading 19-16 before Sridhar clawed back and even threatened to force a third game.

However, Boonsak managed to hold on before packing off his gritty opponent, with the  score reading 28-26.

Boonsak, who finished runner-up in the tournament last year, will face Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in an all-Thai match today.

However, Boonsak's sister, Salakjit, failed to emulate his feat in her women's singles as she crashed to a 16-21 15-21 loss to third-seed Chen Wang of Hong Kong.

Porntip Buranaprasertsuk was the only local survivor in the section after she valiantly fought back to clinch an impressive 19-21 21-13 21-16 victory over Anu Nieminen of Finland.

The world No 71 will clash with Singapore's Aiying Xing, who pulled off an upset win over fourth seed Mi Zhou of Hong Kong.

In mixed doubles, Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam eased past Taiwanese pair Yu Hsin Hsieh and Yu Chin Chien 21-12 21-18 to set up a quarter-final date with David Lindley and Suzan-ne Rayappan of England.