Nitchaon stuns Sung, shuttles into quarters
WORLD NO 16 Nitchaon Jindapol staged the biggest upset of the Badminton Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, yesterday with a 21-16 21-18 victory over world No 4 Sung Ji-hyun of South Korea in the women’s singles second round.
Ranked 16th in the world, Nitchaon ended her five-match losing streak against the third seed to join 2015 champion Ratchanok Intanon in the quarter-finals. The 2013 Canadian Open winner will line up against another South Korean, Jang Mi, who also staged a shock win, over fifth seed Sun Yu of China 21-16 11-21 21-19. The 26-year-old from Phuket beat her South Korean opponent in three games in their only meeting at the Vietnam Open two years ago.
Ratchanok overcame rustiness in the first game to beat Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah 21-18 21-7 and book a date with arch-rival and second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.
“Soniia played well. I had never played her before and it took me a while to get used to her game,” said Rachanok, who is tied at six-all in head-to-head meetings with Yamaguchi, with her latest win coming in this year’s All England semi-finals.
Young Pornpawee Chochuwong failed to emulate her countrywomen, falling to He Bingjiao of China 21-13 21-16.
The men’s duo of Kittinupong Kedren and Dechapol Puavaranukroh survived several match points to outlast Japan’s Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko 21-9 18-21 30-28 in a 78-minute thriller. Dechapol later teamed up with Sapsiree Taerattanachai for his second win of the day, beating Liao Min Chun and Chen Hsiao Huan of Taiwan in the mixed doubles second round 21-12 21-18.
In the men’s singles, Tanongsak Saensonboonsuk was sent packing by world No 4 Son Wan-ho of South Korea 21-7 21-10 while Khosit Phetpradab was no match for sixth seed Shi Yuqi of China, losing 21-10 21-7.
