Incheon: Thailand look set to continue their dominance in the men’s sepak takraw team event after beating bitter rivals Malaysia 2-0 in the semi-finals at the Asian Games yesterday.
The Thai men’s sepak takraw team, led by Pornchai Kaokaew, centre, proved too strong for their Southeast Asian rivals Malaysia in the semi-finals yesterday.
Led by Pornchai Kaokaew, Thailand had few problems against their Southeast Asian opponents, who have been in a slump due to internal conflict among their officials.
“This should have been the final,” said Thailand coach Kamol Tankimhong.
In tomorrow’s final, Thailand will face hosts South Korea, who lost to the Thais in the preliminary round.
Although Thailand will be hot favourites against South Korea, Kamol was displomatic.
“It will be a tough match as we will be playing against them on their home soil,” Kamol said. “But we should be able to beat them to win gold.”
South Korea beat Indonesia 2-0 in yesterday’s other semi-final. South Korea is the only nation outside Southeast Asia to have won an Asian Games medal in the sport.
They won gold in the circle event when they previously hosted the Asian Games in Busan in 2002. The discipline has since been excluded from the Games. The Thai men have won gold in the team event four times in a row since 1998.
In tennis, Danai Udomchoke and Luksika Kumkhum advanced to the quarter-finals.
In the men’s singles, Danai, who won gold at the 2006 Asian Games, edged Zhang Ze of China 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Danai will next meet India’s Yuki Bhambri who beat Indonesian Christopher Rungkat. Prachya Isarow lost to Taiwanese Lu Yen-hsun 6-0, 6-3.
In the women’s singles, top-seeded Luksika dropped only two games in her 6-1, 6-1 win against South Korea’s Lee Yera.
But Noppawan Lertcheewakarn’s campaign ended in the third round after losing to Hong Kong’s Zhang Ling 6-2, 6-1.
In the men’s doubles, Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana needed only 43 minutes to beat Qatari’s Mousa Zayed and Jabor Al Mutawa 6-0, 6-0.
In cricket, Pakistan retained the women’s Twenty20 cricket gold medal by defeating spirited Bangladesh in a rain-affected final, as Sri Lanka took home the bronze.
Pakistan, electing to bat after winning the toss, were restricted to 97-6 by the steady Bangladeshi bowling attack. Bismah Maroof top-scored with 24 and leg-spinner Rumana Ahmed claimed two wickets for 13 runs.
Bangladesh, making a strong dash for the revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 43 from seven overs following a heavy downpour during the break, scored 38-9 to lose by four runs.
Skipper Sana Mir, Sadia Yousuf and Nida Dar claimed two wickets each.
In the bronze medal play-off, Sri Lanka overhauled China’s modest target of 65-6 for the loss of five wickets in 17.1 overs. bangkok post/afp