theNation Thai players aim high in England Published on Mar 9, 2004 [BADMINTON] Keen to bury their bitter defeat in early rounds of the Swiss Open, Thai players have high hopes of reviving their fortunes in the US$125,000 (Bt4.9 million) All-England Open, which starts today at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. At the Swiss Open last Sunday only the mixed doubles team of Saralee Thungthongkham and Sudkhet Prapakamol made it to the quarter-finals. The remaining Thais fell at the first hurdle, while the best local player, Boonsak Polsana, had a severe stomach complaint and withdrew from his second-round match against Malaysian Hashim Roslin. However, with the Olympic qualifying deadline only 50 days away, Thai players have vowed to do their best in the All-England tournament in a bid to boost their ranking points and improve their chances of making the cut for the Olympic Games in Athens. The All-England qualifying round takes place today, but |all the Thai players will open |their campaigns tomorrow. However, Thailand Open champion Boonsak, now No 19 in the world, has yet to recover from his illness. Staff coaches decided to send him home for further treatment and he has been admitted to the Meyo Hospital in Bangkok. Meanwhile Pramote Theerawiwat and Tessana Phanvissawat, who won the 2002 China Open, will play a qualifier in the first round in the men's doubles event. A likely win, however, will leave the Thai duo with an uphill task in the second round as they will face either the Indonesian pair of Candra Wijaya and Halim Haryanto or England's Nathin Robertson and Anthony Clark, ranked ninth in the world. Last year Wijaya partnered Sigit Budiarto to beat the English pair in the last 16 round and went on to take the title. World No 10 Sudkhet and Phattapol Ngernsrisuk will play Danes Thomas Laybourn and Peter Steffensen in another men's doubles match. In the women's doubles, Saralee and Sathinee Chankrajangwong will meet Poles Kamila Augustyn and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk, winners of this year's Swedish and Portuguese Internationals, in the first round. World No 6 Saralee and Sudkhet, runners-up in the Thailand Open and semi-finalists in last year's China and Singapore Opens, will play Kristof Hopp and Katrin Piotrowski from Germany in their opener. Preechachan Wiriyanupappong THE NATION
