Boonsak begins with Japanese test WANCHAI RUJAWONGSANTI - Bangkok Post Badminton ace Boonsak Ponsana begins the defence of his Thailand Open title at Nimibutr Gymnasium today. The Thai star, who reached the semi-finals at last year's Athens Olympics, will take on Keishi Kawaguchi of Japan in the first round of the men's singles at 11.15am. If eighth-seeded Boonsak defeats the Japanese, he will have to play either Malaysian Pei Wei Chung or Japanese Shinya Ohtsuka in the second round at 8.20pm. Top-seeded Kenneth Jonassen, of Denmark, should have little problem in his opening match against a qualifier. If he is victorious, he will face the winner between Hong Kong's Chan Yan Kit and Erwin Djohan of Singapore in the second round in the night session. Other contenders in the men's singles include world champion Xia Suanze of China, who is seeded second, Muhd Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia (3), Dicky Palyama of Holland (4) and Ng Wei of Hong Kong (5). While Boonsak is not one of the highest seeds, Thailand can looking forward to winning two titles through their top-ranked pairs in the women's and mixed doubles events. World number four duo Saralee Thungthongkam and Sathinee Chankrachangwong, semi-finalists at the recent All England Championships, are favourites in the women's doubles. The Thai pair will open their campaign against New Zealand's Sara Runesten-Petersen and Lianne Shirley tomorrow. Sujitra Ekmongkolpaisarn, who has been out of action for more than two years due to injury, will make a return in the women's doubles, teaming up with Salakjit Ponsana. Saralee and Sudket Prapakamol start as favourites in the mixed doubles. The pair, who were runners-up in last year's tournament, will be up against Australians Boyd Cooper and Kate Wilson-Smith today at 3pm. Pi Hongyan of France, who recently won in Switzerland, is the top seed in the women's singles. She is expected to face defending champion Yao Jie of Holland in the final. Seventh-seed Salakjit will open against Elizabeth Cann of England and is expected to face Germany's Xu Huaiwen in the quarter-finals. In the men's doubles, world champions Lars Paaske and Jonas Ramussen will take on China's Guo Zhendong and Xie Zhongbo in their opening match. A total of 297 players from 22 countries will be playing for a total purse of US$80,000 in the Grand Prix tournament which ends on Sunday.
