Okuhara and Pusarla set Thailand Open final shodown

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Okuhara and Pusarla set Thailand Open final shodown

By Lerpong Amsa-ngiam 
The Nation

 

Nozomi Okuhara

 

Fourth seeded Nozomi Okuhara of Japan reached her first final of the year after beating American naturalized Zhang Beiwen 21-17 21-10 in the Toyota Thailand Open at the Nimitbutr National Stadium on Saturday.

 

The world No 8 is tuning herself for the World Championships, which won two years ago,  in Nanjing next month.

 

“I just want to have some warm up before the World Championships. I like to play in Thailand as I have a lot of supports here. I’m happy to be in the final again. It’s been a long time,” added Okuhara who was part of the Japan’s Uber Cup winning team two months ago in the Kingdom.

Okuhara will set up a rematch of the 2017 World Championship final against world No 3 Sindhu V. Pusarla of India who was taken to three games to tame reigning world junior champion Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 23-21 16-21 21-9.

“Young Indonesian players are up and coming, It’s important for me to win the first game. In the second game, I was nervous a bit. I gave it off. So in the third game I had to keep up with the and tried to be there in the match,” said the world No 3, looking for her first win of the year.

 

 

“It’s not going to be easy. I have to be prepared for long matches as we have always played long matches,” added Pusarla.

 

In the men’s singles, world No 15 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia continued his winning streaks in Bangkok to 9-0 after he tamed  Suppanyu Avihingsanon, the last local man in the singles event, 21-15 21-12. The world No 15 has never lost to anyone at this venue since winning the Princess Cup in January.

 

 

“I think the reason why I always play so well in Thailand is because I like the city. I always have good focus and motivation when I play here. I need to have a good recovery and stay focused for the final tomorrow,” said the Indonesian who admits that he cannot fully focus on badminton as he has to spare time for ISTC resort, a family business, in Sukabumi, 100m south of Jakarta.

 

He will line up the final round clash against Japanese young gun Kanta Tsuneyama beat Sony Dwi Kuncord of Indonesia 21-13 14-21 23-21 for his first final on the BWF Tour.

 

 

Kanta Tsuneyama 

 

“I’m happy to be in my first final but I still the final match to play tomorrow. I hope I can play well to win on Sunday,” said the 22-year-old from Shika.

 

 

Meanwhile, all Thais crashed out in the semi-final stage. Thai No 1 women's doubles team Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai went down to Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 21-16 21-17.

 

 

In the men's doubles, Maneepong Jongjit and Bodin Isara, five years after being involved in an on court fight duirng the Canadian Open final, saw their reunion come to an end, losing to Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe of Japan 19-21 22-20 21-10.

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/sports/30350085

 

 

 

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