BANGKOK, May 17 — Malaysia’s participation in the men’s doubles competition of the 2024 Thailand Open Badminton championships ended at the quarterfinal stage after both pairs bowed out to their respective opponents today.
The southpaw pair of Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri went down fighting against Ming Che Lu-Tang Kai Wei from Chinese Taipei 18-21, 21-15 and 18-21 in a thrilling 66 minutes battle.
When met after the match, a visibly-disappointed Haikal said they had followed the rhythm of their opponents too much, until they failed to focus on their actual game plan.
“Despite leading throughout the deciding third set, we were rushing to finish the game fast, which caused the match but we will learn from our mistake and bounce back in the next tournament,” he told Bernama today.
Later, another national men’s doubles pair, Junaidi Arif-Yap Roy King, were outclassed by the top seeds in the tournament, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, in straight sets 21-7 and 21-14 in just 38 minutes.
Yap said this was the first time they met a world top five men’s doubles pair, and they had gained a valuable lesson today.
“We could not match their speed and attacking display on the court today. But we will take it as an important lesson which will benefit us in future,” he said.
Earlier, the tournament’s eighth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei advanced to the men’s singles semi-final after defeating Kodai Naraoka of Japan in straight sets 21-14 and 21-15 in 46 minutes.
Chou, who will take on Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the semi-final tomorrow, said he noticed that his opponent (Kodai) had a long three sets late last night, and his strategy was to play more of a rally-style of play.
“I played the right strategy today with speed and strength which is the key to my victory. It is good that my game peaked at the right time ahead of the Olympic games,” he said.
For the semi-final, Chou said he is anticipating a good match up as both shuttlers are physically strong and has powerful smashes.
Another men’s singles semi-final will be between Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, after both defeated their respective opponents.
Meanwhile, home favourite and tournament top-seed mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai lived up to expectations as they brushed aside Jafar Hidayatullah-Aisyah Salsabila Putri Pranata of Indonesia 21-17 and 21-11 in 38 minutes.
Later, Sapsiree said they were happy to play in front of the home crowd and would try their best to win the tournament.
“We do not put too much pressure on ourselves being tournament top-seed…we only intend to do our best in each round and win the match,” she said.
In the semi-final, Dechapol-Sapsiree will meet fellow compatriots Ruttanapak Oupthong-Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat, who earlier defeated Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto-Lisa Ayu Kusumawati of Indonesia 21-16, 16-21 and 22-20.
— Bernama
