Piers Boden was the star on day two of the CHA Thailand Open as he advanced to the final of the Men’s A singles, his first elite singles final in international racketlon.
Boden will face either No.3 seed Patrick Moran or Sidharth Nandal in the final, with their semi-final due to take place early on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles, Sin Yee Simmy Chung has put herself in an extraordinary position after two of her three-box league matches. With wins of +1 and +3, Chung is just one win away from the title, despite having a worse point differential than two of her opponents.
The reports on the other singles categories, including seniors, will be released in a separate article on Monday.
Men’s A: Boden Battles into Maiden Final
For Piers Boden, it was an interesting run through to his first elite singles final. The young Brit opened with a relatively straightforward victory over India’s Gourav Rakshit. He got a stroke of luck in the quarter-finals. With top seed Mohammed Tarik Koubaa forced to withdraw before the event started, Boden received a bye straight through to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, he found himself against Australia’s Leigh Sands. Sands had impressed in his quarter-final win over former +55 World Champion Martyn Langston, winning the badminton and squash 21-3 and 21-1. In the semi-final against Boden, he left himself with too much to do though.
Boden raced away, winning the first two sports 21-9 and 21-10. Sands refused to go down without a fight, claiming the squash 21-5. It was too-little-too-late though, with Boden winning the tennis 15-7 to advance to his first final.
The Brit is yet to discover his final opponent. Patrick Moran and Sidharth Nandal are in the second semi-final, but will not meet until Sunday morning. After receiving a bye through the first round, Moran reached the semi-finals thanks to a superb +5 comeback win over Austria’s Stefan Urban.
Nandal had a tough route through to the semi-final. The Indian’s badminton was instrumental in his first-round win over Thailand’s Sathid Sujittapiban. Then, in the second round, he faced No.2 seed Kevin Ho Ching Ng. After three sports the two were neck-and-neck, a full set of tennis needed to decide the winner. The match remained tight throughout, but in the end, Nandal snuck a 21-19 victory, ending the Triple Crown hopes of Ho Ching Ng.
Women’s A: Table Tennis Success Guides Simmy Chung Towards Gold
A fascinating Women’s A box league has seen debutant Sin Yee Simmy Chung edge close to an elite trophy. Her table tennis ultimately proved to be instrumental in her success.
Simmy Chung’s opening match was against Germany’s Julia Schirutschke. She began in style, winning the table tennis 21-0. Schirutschke took the next two sets, but only 21-19 and 22-20, leaving Simmy Chung needing just five in tennis. Despite this huge lead, Simmy Chung almost blew it. In the end, the Hong Kong player lost 21-5, meaning she won the match by just one point.
Glenda Ong from the Philippines also won her first match, beating Tung Yu Tip by 22 points. Ong and Chung would face next, to decide who topped the group overnight. The Hong Kong star raced ahead again, winning the table-tennis 21-2. Once again the badminton and squash were tight, with Ong winning badminton 23-21 and Simmy Chung winning squash 24-22. This time, she needed just three to win in tennis. Again it was close, with Ong winning the tennis 21-5. It didn’t matter though. Chung, once again, had edged a victory.
As long as she completes her third match on Sunday against Tung Yu Yip, Sin Yee Simmy Chung will be crowned the champion, regardless of the result.
The full results from day two of the CHA Thailand Open are available here.
Read the report from day one of the tournament here.
Follow the coverage from Finals Day on Facebook and Instagram.
All 2020 FIR World Tour and Challenger tournaments are available for any player to enter. You can check out all the tournaments here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Leigh Sands
