There had been disappointing upshots for the local stars on the opening day, but forecast for the rest of the tournament improved drastically on July 8.
Noppadol Sangnil and Supoj Saenla, the 2007 Asian champion, were the ones who started setting things right in the first session.
Noppadol was in a fine touch to rout Raees Aslam of Pakistan, playing in his first international event abroad, 5-2, while Supoj defeated Ang Boon Chin of Singapore 5-3. He later scored a 5-2 victory over last year's runner-up Stuart Bingham, the English professional ranked No. 21 in the world.
The reigning world amateur champion Thepchaiya Un-nooh played in his trademark breezy way and it did not take him long to hand a 5-2 defeat to the African champion Wael Talaat of Egypt.
Issara Kachaiwong, a former professional and Asian champion, continued his winning ways by beating Yutaka Fukuda of Japan 5-1 and registering a major upset victory 5-3 of world No. 12 Joe Perry of England.
Issara has four wins in as many matches in Group E and is now virtually assured of a top place in Group E at the end of of the first round, round robin hostilities on July 9 night.
While all the Thai players succeeded in pulling up their socks, the 2007 world amateur champion Atthasit Mahitthi and Noppadon Noppachorn, also a former world amateur title-holder, were the exceptions.
Atthasit lost his third straight match of the tournament when he was hammered by Irish amateur Brendan O'Donoghue 5-1.
Noppadon is so far the worst performer of the local lot. His continuing misery on July 8 opened the floodgates for reigning world professional John Higgins to regain lost confidence. Higgins helped himself to comfortable 5-2 win over Noppadon, who has yet to win a match in three appearances.
World No. 3 and former world professional champion Shaun Murphy of England routed Aditya Mehta of India 5-1, but Peter Ebdon, also an ex-world title-holder, was upset 5-1 by Darren Morgan of Wales.
Ken Doherty was edged 5-4 by world No. 6 Ryan Day, while Mark J. Williams had little trouble in registering a 5-1 victory over Mohsen Aziz of Qatar.
The first round matches continue at the same venue with the first session getting under way at 10 am. The three will be televised live by True Sports 3 at 3 pm, 5:30 pm and 8 pm. |
