Gold Coast: Thailand’s scratch women’s doubles pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai became the unlikely Sudirman Cup heroes when they shocked World No. 2 women’s pair Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen 21-15, 21-12 in 44 minutes to lift Thailand into the Sudirman Cup semi-finals.
Coming into the tournament, Denmark have been seen as one of the strong contenders for the Sudirman Cup. However, World No. 9 mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand showed no mercy to outlast Mathias Christiansen/Sara Thygesen 21-19, 21-19, scoring the first point for Thailand.
Viktor Axelsen and Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding kept Denmark’s hopes of advancing to the Sudirman Cup semi-finals alive when Axelsen overcame Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-15, 21-6 in the men’s singles match, while Mads Conrad-Petersen/Mads Pieler Kolding emerged victorious in a three-set thriller to give Denmark a 2-1 advantage in the tie.
Former World Champion Ratchanok Intanon then levelled the tie at 2-2 with a 21-15, 21-14 win over Line Kjaersfeldt in the women’s singles before Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai pulled off the upset in the women’s doubles match.
Meanwhile, South Korea won Thursday’s other Sudirman Cup quarter-final tie against Chinese Taipei 3-1 and will face Thailand in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Malaysia will play Japan and China will face India in another quarter-finals that will be held on Friday.
