Busanan Ongbumrungpan ousts Kaori Imabeppu in quarter-final encounter at Vietnam Open Grand Prix
Thailand’s elite shuttler Busanan Ongbumrungpan lived up to the expectations in the Women’s Singles quarter-final battle when she employed all of her skills and overpowered Japan’s Kaori Imabeppu at the Yonex Sunrise Vietnam Open Grand Prix 2012 on Friday, August 24, in Vietnam.
The in-form Busanan, who participated in this home event as an un-seeded player, continued her giant killing performance and secured her berth in the semi-final after beating Kaori in an epic battle that took 67 minutes of hard labour from both shuttlers.
The Thai shuttler could not escape losing the opening game but she fought back and grabbed the second set with a tight margin. In the deciding set, she controlled her nerves at the ending points and took the game to end up this contest in rubber games.
The impressive Kaori, on the other hand, also put up staggering show of quality badminton and won the opening set. However, she remained un-lucky in following both sets as she lost these games with a tight margin and crashed out at the quarter-final stage.
Right from the opening rallies of first game, both players made the fight very intense by playing at their best speed and remained toe-to-toe until the mid-game interval.
After the break, Busanan lost her control over the pace and executed negative shots and the set slipped away from her hands with a 17-21 score on the board.
In the second game, the contest remained tight in opening half as no one could grab a comfortable lead until the mid-game break.
After the interval, they continued playing positive and fast badminton until 20-20 when Busanan showed her class and took the ending points to clinch the set with a tight margin of 22-20.
In the decider, Busanan tried to dominate the pace from opening points but failed to take any lead until the break as her Japanese opponent played at the same level.
After the break, Busanan controlled the pace of rallies and remained successful in ending up the battle with a close difference of 21-19.
Busanan managed to win this epic match in hard-fought three games with a nerve-racking 17-21, 22-20 and 21-19 score on the board.
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