Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Pattarasuda Chaiwan – notched impressive victories in their quarter-final matches to stay on track to defending their boys' and girls' Under-17 titles respectively in the Badminton Asia Under-17 Under-15 Junior Championships in Yangon, Myanmar on Friday night.
Kunlavut, the top seed smashed a 21-12, 2-19 win over Indonesia's fifth seed Syabda Perkasa Belawain 40 minutes to earn a semi-final clash against Hong Kong third seed Ko Shig Hei – who struggled to a three-game 10-21, 21-17, 21-10 victory over another Indonesian Christian Adinata in 43 minutes.
Pattarasuda made it a double delight for the confident Thais at the Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium when the Asian Junior Under-19 runners-up outplayed her compatriot Benyapa Aimsaard in straight games 21-8, 21-19 in a 28-minute match.
Her opponent in the semifinals is Indonesia's Alifia Intan Nurrokhim. Alifia, the fifth seed, raced through an easy 21-16, 21-4 win over Japan's Asuka Sugiyama.
It was also double delight for Malaysia's Muhammad Fazriq Mohamad Razif in the boys' Under-15. The 13-year-old, making his debut in the Asian meet is the in the singles and doubles (with Ong Zhen Yi) semi-finals.
Son of former Olympian (Datuk) Razif Sidek, Fazriq won his singles match against India's Ayush Raj Gupta in straight games 21-12, 21-16. In the doubles the Malaysian pair were too strong for Thailand's Teeramedh Kobprasertkul-Chakkaphat to register an easy 21-10, 21-14 win.
The unseeded Fazriq will take on Japan's hope fifth seed Riki Takei for a place in the final. In the doubles the Malaysians will face Indian hurdle in Ayush Raj-Shubham Patel.
