India Open GP Gold: Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam claim Mixed Doubles title
Thailand’s Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam have claimed Mixed Doubles title after beating Indonesia’s Muhammad Rijal and Debby Susanto in the final showdown of the 2011 Syed Modi Memorial India Open GP Gold, in Lucknow, India, on Sunday, December
25.
Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam, who are currently placed at 6th position in the Mixed Doubles world rankings, were in smashing form as they defeated the Indonesian couple in an entertaining three-set fight. Thai shuttlers played to their maximum
potential and ended the final contest by spending 58 minutes in the court.
In the opening set, Rijal and Susanto controlled and dictated the pace of the game and won it with a reasonable score. In the second game, Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam fought back and took the set with a decent margin. They remained on course and thrashed
their Indonesian opponents with a huge difference in the final set.
Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam started the opening game in a fast and aggressive manner as they matched the speed of their rivals and remained close until the score reached at 9-9. At this stage, the Indonesians started to build lead and remained successful
in manipulating the loop poles of their Thai challengers.
Rijal and Susanto did not slow their speed at net and pushed their opponents on the back foot. Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam failed to put up good show as they were not quick enough to take the bird at net. They did not play well in the concluding half of
the opening game and lost it with a margin of 16-21.
In the following set, Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam played better badminton and established their superiority over their opponents by dictating the pace of rallies. The Indonesians became defensive in this set as their rivals played fast game at net. Thai
couple remained on track and reached at 18-11.
At this stage, Rijal and Susanto scored 7 consecutive points and levelled the score at 18-18. However, Thai duo managed to score three points in a row and won the set with a decent score of 21-18.
In the final set, both couples progressed closely until 6-6 when Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam lifted up their level of play and did not face tough resistance from their rivals. They ended the deciding set with a one-sided score of 21-11. The final result
of this title match was 16-21, 21-18 and 21-11.
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