Thailand suffers heartbreak defeat despite individual win by Atthaya

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Thailand suffers heartbreak defeat despite individual win by Atthaya

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 
The Nation

 

Atthaya Thitikul poses with the individual trophy.

 

Teenage sensation Atthaya Thitikul won the individual event but Thailand lost the team title to South Korea in heart-breaking fashion as the 40th Queen Sirikit Cup concluded on Friday at the Thana City Country Club.

 

The 15-year-old Atthaya produced a solid back-nine performance with four birdies in the last six holes to sign off with a 67 and a three-day total of 13 under-par-203, three ahead of Japanese Yuna Nishimura, who finished on 10 under-par-206.

 

However, it was a painful loss for the Kingdom’s team after a draw with 19-time champion South Korea at 417 each over the three days.

 

The result was decided by the final scores of the teams’ third players … and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (73) was edged out by Hee Jeong Lim (72), propelling South Korea, also including Yunji Jeong and A-Yean Cho, to their 20th title as Thailand’s hopes were shattered.

 

Japanese, South Korean and Thai teams.

“I’m happy to win myself but I’m sad we didn’t win as a team,” said Atthaya, ,” who became the second Thai after Supamas Sangchan in 2013 to win her individual title.

 

“We came so close but I’m proud of my teammates as we gave everything out there.”

 

She also had to console a distressed Natthakritta after her defeat, as another team member, Tunradda Piddon, also rushed to support her.

Atthaya has won three titles this year, the first coming at February’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in Singapore and the second at the Patsy Hankins’s team trophy in Qatar in March.

 

She has two more events, the Junior Open in Scotland in July and Ricoh’s Women British Open in August, before representing Thailand at the Asian Games in Jakarta from August 18 to September 2.

 

 

“My goal is to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. I want to help defend the title as we won the team event four years ago,” she said.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30345189

 

 

 

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