Thailand has contenders in four Thailand Masters finals

Boosted by an estimated 2,000  enthusiastic fans, 18-year-old former world junior No 1 Kantaphon rebounded from  the first game deficit to beat his arch-rival Zii Jia Lee of Malaysia  old foe 15-21 21-18 22-20 in 67 minutes for his first ever Grand Prix Gold final.

“I was so excited at the beginning as it was my best run in a big tournament. To be honest I after the first game I thought I would lose. But thanks to my coach who kept telling me to fight and the fans for staying with me until the end. I kept fighting and did not think of anything,” said Kantaphon who will have a Herculean task against the highly experienced world no 20 and third seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, a 16-21  21-18 21-14 winner of his countryman Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.

Kantaphon Wangcharoen

“It won’t be a life if I said I didn’t hope to win. But Tommy is a very tough opponent. I have to fight really hard out there and hope it will be my day,” Kantaphon said.

Top seed Busanan also dug deep to outlast world junior champion Chen Yufei of China 18-21 22-20 21-17 in a nerve-wrecking battle that consumed up to 79 minutes.

“I knew I had to hang in there and waited for her to miss. I had worked really hard in the off season and it is paying off well in my first tournament of the year,” said Busanan looking for a vengeance with another crowd’s darling Aya Ohori of Japan who stamped her authority over Thailand’s second seed Nitchaon Jindapol  by winning their clash  21-16 21-17 to reach her second straight final in Thailand.

“We just played in the Thailand Open final in October and she beat me. But this time I’m a different player. Together with support from the fans and their shouting “Thailand Thailand.”, I will be really motivated to win,” said the world no 12.

Sapsiree and Dechapol 

Earlier in mixed doubles, second seeded Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai beat Yong Kai Terry Hee amd Wei Han Tan of Singapore 21-15 21-16.
They will play for their maiden title against fifth seeded Zhang Nan, the 2016 Olympics men’s doubles gold medalist and Li Yinhui of China. The Chinese pair advanced to the final after Indonesian Alfian Eko Prasetya, teaming up with  Annisa Saufika, suffered an ankle injury at 20 all in the first game.

“We were a bit erratic at the beginning but when we settled down, we controlled the situation better,” said Sapsiree eyeing on her first win with Dechaphol after losing two Grand Prix Gold series in South Korea last year and in India last year.

“We hope that it will be our third time lucky. Playing at home will give us more confidence in the final tomorrow,” said Dechapol.

Thailand has candidates in four categories including the women’s doubles. Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai reserved their final spot following a 23-21 17-21 21-14 win over fifth seed Huang Dongping and Li Yinhui of China. They will face top seed Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China who beat  sixth seed Greysia Poli and Rosyita Eka Putri Sari of Indonesia 21-16 21-7 in the final.

In men’s doubles, third seed Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Kittinupong Kedren went down to sixth seed Wang Yifu and Huang Kaixiang of China 8-21 17-21. Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han of Taiwan beat Berry Eko Prasetya and Annisa Saufika of Indonesia 21-16 21-17.