Thai men, Singapore eves make the grade

FEBRUARY 15: Thailand men blanked Mauritius 5-0 to reach the Super League in the Thomas Cup while Singapore women made the grade in the Ub...

FEBRUARY 15: Thailand men blanked Mauritius 5-0 to reach the Super League in the Thomas Cup while Singapore women made the grade in the Uber Cup by thrashing Australia 4-1 in a preliminary group match of the Asian Zone qualifiers in the World Team Badminton Championships here on Tuesday.

Thailand, level with Mauritius after both the teams won their matches against minnows Sri Lanka and Nepal in the four-team Group A, displayed superior firepower to record their third straight 5-0 victory to make it to Group X, which includes powerhouse China, led by world number two Sun Jun, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong.

In another Group A match, Sri Lanka defeated Nepal 5-0.

In the women8217;s section, Singapore made it to Super League Group Y, also including second-seeded Japan, Korea and Thailand. India, who take on Sri Lanka in their final league match this evening, has already made it to the Super League and even if they lose to the Lankans, they will join top seeded Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong in Group X as the top preliminary league team.

In the mens8217; Group A, the match between Thailand and Mauritius was expected to be a close contest but the Thais did not give their rivals any chances and wrapped up all their matches in straight sets.

Thai number one Boonsak Polsana overcame a spirited fight from Denis Constantin in the first singles before winning 15-8 15-10 in 34 minutes.

But the second singles proved a cakewalk for Anupapthiraratsak, who blitzed Yogesh Singh Mahadnac 15-4 15-0. Jakrapan also had it easy against hyder aboobakar as he registered a thumping 15-0 15-1 win in just 12 minutes.

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Pramote Teerawwata/ Tesana Panvisvas and Kitipon Kitikul/ Khunakorn Sudhisodhi wrapped up the proceedings, beating Constantin/ Eddy Clarisse 15-8 15-7 and Mahadnac/ Aboobakar 15-3 15-2, respectively.

Singapore also did not face much problems against the Australians who clearly missed top-ranked player Rayoni Head, who has not come here as she is preparing for the All-England and Olympic Games.

In her absence, the youthful Australian team proved easy meat for the higher rated Singapore girls with Fatima Kumin Lim, Luxi Xiao and Li Li scoring easy wins against Kellie Lucas, Jane Crabtree and Lara Blackman, respectively.

Lucus/ Crabtree defeated Kumin Lim/ Xiao in the first doubles to get a consolation win for the Aussies.