Left elated at the end of the first round hostilities on July 9 night after seeing all of their eight players sail through to the knockout stages, maintaining their 100 per cent record would have been an impossible task for the Thais and it did turn out to be so.
Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm, Issara Kachaiwong, Noppadon Noppachorn and Thepchaiya Un-nooh all recorded victories in their respective last 32 round matches on July 10, but Atthasit Mahitthi, Phaithoon Phonbun, Supoj Saenla and Noppadol Sangnil were shown the exit.
The opening session of the day was disastrous by all counts and had it not been for Issara, Thailand would have been left with little to cherish about.
Issara kept his poise throughout and succeeded in taming a stubborn Aditya Mehta of India 6-4 to become the first local player to enter the last 16 round, which was to be played late July 10 night.
Atthasit Mahitthi, the 2007 world amateur champion, had his unremarkable run in the tournament ended by former world professional title holder Mark J. Williams, losing the clash 6-2 without putting up any real resistance.
Noppadol was beaten 6-3 by world No. 24 Michael Holt and Phaithoon went down 6-4 to former world professional champion Ken Doherty.
The second session in the afternoon brought the smiles back to faces of the local fans.
Ratchapol led the recovery staged by the local stalwarts as he registered an impressive 6-3 victory over world No. 11 Joe Perry of England.
Thepchaiya, although a bit off the mark, beat Irish amateur Brendan O'Donoghue 6-4 and Noppadon, who had a slow start to the tournament, cracked a tough nut, clinching his last 32 round encounter with former Welsh professional Darren Morgan 6-4.
Supoj bowed out, but it was only expected.
Supoj, a former Asian champion, was a in fact a victim of the vagaries of the draw. He did put up fight but a victory over reigning world professional champion John Higgins was never on the cards and the Thai sustained a 6-4 loss.
Among the big names crashing out on July 10 was former world professional champion Peter Ebdon, who suffered a 6-1 rout at the hands of talented Judd Trump of England. Shaun Murphy (pictured above), a former world professional title holder and current No. 3, was beaten 6-4 by Jimmy White.
The quarter-finals are scheduled to take place at 10 am at the Montien Riverside Hotel, with one key match being televised by True Sport 3.
These will be followed by the first semifinal at 2 pm (live on Modern Nine and True Sport 3) and the second at 6 pm (live on True Sport 3). |
