Boonsak Ponsana stops Keigo Sonoda’s winning streak in the German Open GP Gold 2011 – Badminton News
Number three seed, Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand, has penetrated into the last four after beating Japanese, Keigo Sonoda, in the quarter-final match of the German Open GP Gold 2011, at Mulheim, Germany.
Ponsana took only 36 minutes to thrash Keigo, who defeated Stanislav Pukhov of Russia in straight games in the round-of-16.
The Thai shuttler stopped the winning run of the Japanese who came as a qualifier and delivered a stunning performance until the quarter-final stage, where he lost to the more experienced Ponsana. The first game of the match was an absolute thriller from
the starting point to the ending moments of the set. The impressive play of the Japanese proved that his winning run in the event was not a fluke. He matched the pace of Ponsana and progressed in the game with equal pace.
The score was level at 12-12, when Ponsana took a three-point lead to build pressure on the opponent. Sonoda recovered to level the score at 17-17 by taking four consecutive points. At this crucial stage of the opening game, both players remained calm to
wait for the right opportunity. The crowd became quite excited when the score reached at 20-20. Ponsana employed his extensive experience of the game and scored the remaining two points in a row and won the set by a tight margin of 22-20.
In the second game, which proved to be the final one, Ponsana accelerated the pace of the game and controlled the rallies by hitting deep smashes and tumbling net shots. Sonoda had no answers to the accurate smashes and hard to return spinning strokes at
the net. Until the one-minute break, the number three seed was leading by 11-6. After the interval, Ponsana remained on track and spared no opportunity for his opponent to survive in the game. The Thai shuttler won the second set with a stunning difference
of 21-8. The final score of this quarter-final match was 22-20 and 21-8.
In the semi-final of the German Open GP Gold 2011, Ponsana will be up against the number one seed, Lin Dan of China, who crushed Wan Ho Shon from Korea, in the quarter-final of the event.
Tags: