SCG Thailand Open 2009 - Malaysia, Thiland, China assured of titles

Malaysia, however, were denied a shot at the men’s singles crown when local hero Boonsak Ponsana stopped Wong Choong Hann in the semi-finals.

Hosts Thailand were assured of at least one title while Chinese players flexed their muscles t power into two all-China finals ,in the women’s singles and women’s doubles.

Choong-Lee, preparing for next month’s World Championships in Hyderabad, showed great determination and more importantly, experience, to ward off the challenge from two players who are more than a decade younger than them.

Choong, 33 and Lee, 34, were too good for Isara Bodin-Jongjit Maneepong, who made it to the last 16 of the 2008 World Junior Championships in Pune, India.

“We are satisfied with our performance today. We played at 75 per cent of our form and although our opponents are much younger, our experience made the difference,” said Lee after their 21-16, 21-18 win.

“As for the world championships, we are currently training with several young pairs but after the tournament, we will practice more with the senior players. This will help us to focus for the championships.”

Chan and Lim were also elated to reach their first ever GP Gold final and vowed to give their best against their older compatriots.

“Both of us normally play in the mixed doubles but we are extremely happy to have come this far,” said Lim after beating Indonesia’s Alvent Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan 24-22, 12-21, 21-18.

“Now that we are in the final, there is nothing to lose.”

But there was no final for Wong Choong Hann, another veteran who retired from the Malaysian national team but still qualified for the world championships.

Ponsana beat the Malaysan 21-8, 12-21, 21-18 and will play Vietnam’s Nguyen Tienh Minh in the final.
The mixed doubles final will be an all-Thailand affair as Sudket Prapakamol-Saralee Thuongthongkam will play Songphon Anugritayawon-Kunchala Voravichitchaikul.

China, on the other hand, will take home both the women’s singles and women’s doubles crowns after Wang Rong and Liu Jian defeated Thai hopefuls Nitchaon Jindapol (21-16, 19-21, 25-23) and Salakjit Ponsana (21-19, 21-6) respectively.

In the women’s doubles final, Gao Ling-Wei Yili will take on Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen.