Dechapol, Sapsiree romp to Swiss title

Dechapol, Sapsiree romp to Swiss title

Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai bagged the mixed doubles title following an impressive straight-set victory in the Swiss Open yesterday.

Dechapol Puavaranukroh, left, and Sapsiree Taerattanachai during yesterday's final. EPA

The Thai duo, seeded third for the Grand Prix Gold event, beat second-ranked contenders Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto of Indonesia 21-18, 21-15 in Basel.

Dechapol and Sapsiree, the only Thai pair left in the tournament, were neck-and-neck with their opponents before breaking away late in the first set. They then dominated the second set from the start.

None of the leading Thai singles players, including star shuttlers Ratchanok Intanon and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, took part in the tournament.

Earlier in the all-Chinese women's singles decider, Chen Xiaoxin beat Chen Yuifei 21-19, 21-14.

Meanwhile, for the first time, Thailand has been selected to host a Superseries tournament, while the country's rights to organise a Grand Prix Gold level event have been extended for four years (2018-2021).

Thailand was picked as the host nation for the 2018 Thomas & Uber Cup finals by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) during a council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul, president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, said: "I would like to thank the BWF for acknowledging our potential as hosts.

"Hosting a world-class tournament will not only help in terms of easing the financial burden on all the Thai players who have to travel overseas to participate in all these top tournaments, it also means foreign players have to come and play here and their fans will also come here as well which will certainly boost Thai tourism and the economy."

The BWF also announced a new tournament structure with increased prize money yesterday in an attempt to raise the sport's profile and ramp up revenues.

The new tour series, which features six levels, will kick off next year and run until 2021, with at least a million dollars in prize money up for grabs in each of its top four events.

The Level 1 end-of-season finale to be played in China will feature US$1.5 million in prize money, while the three Level 2 events -- in China, England and Indonesia -- will carry million-dollar prize funds, a BWF statement said.

There will be five Level 3 events with $700,000 each in prize money, seven Level 4 tournaments with $350,000 to be won and 11 at Level 5 ($150,000).

The tour will involve an estimated total of 37 events, including Level 6, an open category for which BWF member associations can apply for sanctioning. bangkok post/AFP

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