by Wade Townsend

South Korea’s Choi Jeongmin, Kim Seoyeon and Lee Yunjin each upset the status quo today, Thursday 30th March, in Bangkok. On paper the trio was expected to finish last in their respective groups, however the scores told a different story and they were undefeated in the two days of qualifications.

It was largely business as usual as eleven of the fourteen groups found their day two qualification matches going to seed.  However, two of matches that went against expectation provided the most fireworks, going the full distance.

Wen Ruei-Ling (TPE) broke the hearts of the crowd as she defeated Thailand’s local hope Jinnipa Sawettabut. With five games decided by the narrowest two point margin it was anyone’s match, but it was Wen that secured top place in her group winning 10-12, 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 3-11.

India’s Madhurika Patkar was looking to have better luck on day two after losing a seven game encounter in her opening match. While she was able to come back from a two game deficit against Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yee, once again it was seven game sorrow for Patkar. Lee secured the match 11-8 in the final game and guaranteed herself top place in the group.

With four players battling for a place in the main event, it was understandably the largest group that was faced with the most difficult calculation when the day came to close. While Choi Jeongmin secured top place in the group, the remaining three players were left in a count back with just one win each to their name. A 4-1 win and 3-4 loss for Chen Ting-Ting (TPE) was enough to lock up the consolation prize of second place. It was a disappointing result for the group’s top seed Wong Chin Yau (HKG), who found herself finishing in fourth position.

Find the full results for the Women’s Singles qualifications here.