Malaysia caught us by surprise, claim Thailand

THAILAND have denied pulling the punches in the Thomas Cup tie against Malaysia on Sunday.  

Chief coach Sompol Kukasemkij said yesterday that he was disappointed with the below par performances of Boonsak Polsana and their top pair of Pramote Teerawiwatana-Tesana Panvisvas.  

“We were not play-acting. The Malaysia line-up caught us by surprise,” said Sompol.  

“Boonsak was very nervous when he found out that he would have to play against Roslin (Hashim). He has a very poor record against Roslin and I guess he was just not himself.  

“For Pramote-Tesana, they have not played against this Malaysian pair (Chew Choon Eng-Koo Kien Keat) in a competition before.  

“If we had wanted to lose the tie, we would not have fielded our strongest team.”  

The Thais also fielded another Olympic-bound pair – Sukhet Prapakamol-Patapol Ngernsrisuk. And they were beaten 11-15, 11-15 by another scratch pair featuring singles player Wong Choong Hann in a partnership with Chan Chong Ming.  

Lee Chong Wei had earlier outclassed Thirayu Laohathaimongkol 15-11, 15-3 to given Malaysia an unassailable 3-0 lead.  

Lee Tsuen Seng completed the 5-0 rout of Thailand with a come-frombehind 10-15, 15-7, 15-7 win over Adisak Wiriyapadungpong.  

The defeat for Thailand meant that they will play off for a place in the quarter-finals against England today. If they win the tie, they will play against South Korea on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.  

Sompol refused to look beyond the playoff tie.  

“We have to think about playing against England first. We have a chance to reach the quarter-finals but we have to watch out for their two pairs (Anthony Clark-Robert Blair and Nathan Robertson-David Lindley),” he said.  

“The two pairs scored the points in England’s 2-3 defeat by Japan. If our two doubles pairs play the way they did against Malaysia, it will be hard for us to beat England.”