Thai badminton players Pornpawee Chochuwong and Supanida Katethong will go head-to-head on Friday in the quarter-finals of the BWF Kumamoto Masters, a Super 500 event in Japan with a prize pool of US$420,000. Their match comes after both athletes secured notable victories in Thursday’s round of 16.
Pornpawee, who is unseeded in the tournament, staged a comeback to defeat China’s fourth-seeded Han Yue in three sets, finishing 17-21, 21-12, 21-14 after a 57-minute battle. Supanida, seeded seventh, maintained her momentum with a straight-sets win over Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, concluding the match at 21-15, 21-18. The two players are now the only remaining Thai singles competitors in the tournament following the elimination of Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Ratchanok Intanon in earlier matches.
Kunlavut, who recently claimed his first title of the year at the Korea Masters, was unexpectedly defeated by Taiwan’s Chi Yu-jen, falling 19-21, 10-21 in just 34 minutes. This loss leaves Chi set to face either China’s Li Shifeng or Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the next round.
In a parallel upset, Ratchanok, the tournament’s fifth seed, lost to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who had also bested her in the Paris Olympics quarter-finals. Tunjung will now face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in her quarter-final match.
Thailand’s mixed doubles teams had a more favorable outcome. Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran clinched a tough three-set victory against Robin Tabeling and Alexandra Boje from the Netherlands, with scores of 21-12, 17-21, 21-19. They will next compete against Malaysia’s Hoo Pang Ron and Cheng Su Yin, who also endured a three-set match to advance past Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.
The Thai pair Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat also secured a spot in the quarter-finals, defeating Japan’s Hiroki Nishi and Akari Sato 21-14, 21-18. Their upcoming opponents will be France’s Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue.
In other tournament highlights, Canada’s Michelle Li pulled off a significant upset by defeating India’s Pusarla V Sindhu 17-21, 21-16, 21-17. Li will next challenge South Korea’s Sim Yu-Jin, who surprised many by eliminating top-seeded Wang Zhiyi of China with scores of 26-24, 21-18. Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, seeded second, advanced smoothly by beating Lo Sin Yan of Hong Kong 21-12, 21-8.
In men’s singles, top-seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark came back from a first-game loss to overcome China’s Lei Lanxi, winning 14-21, 21-14, 21-9. Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, seeded second, comfortably defeated Toma Junior Popov of France 24-22, 21-9 to secure his quarter-final place.