Pornpawee to take on Chen

Pornpawee Chochuwong will face Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the last 16 round of the women's singles event at the US$1.25 million BWF All England Open in Birmingham today.

Thailand's Pornpawee defeated Japan's former world champion Nozomi Okuhara 21-11, 21-15 while China's fourth seed Chen beat Michelle Li of Canada 22-20, 21-14 in the first round on Tuesday.

Thai stars Ratchanok Intanon and Kantaphon Wangcharoen both made early exits at Utilita Arena Birmingham on Tuesday night.

Eighth seed Ratchanok was stunned by compatriot Lalinrat Chaiwan 21-16, 21-17 while Kantaphon fell to third seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia 21-17, 21-19.

Lalinrat will play Gregoria Tunjung of Indonesia for a place in the quarter-finals of the World Tour Super 1000 event today.

Ginting will meet HS Prannoy of India in the last 16 today.

Women's doubles pair Supissara Paewsampran and Puttita Supajirakul moved into the last 16 after they defeated Jin Yu Jia and Wong Jia Ying of Singapore 21-14, 20-22, 21-12.

They will next face either Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia or Jaqueline Lima and Samia Lima of Brazil today.

However, Thailand's seventh seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai made a shock exit after losing to unseeded Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela of India 21-18, 21-14.

Sitthikom Thammasin, another Thai men's singles hope, bowed out in the first round yesterday, after losing to fourth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-12, 21-15.

In other results on Tuesday, men's top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark was forced to battle his way into the last 16 round, scraping past Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 19-21, 21-15, 21-11.

Another Danish star Anders Antonsen also advanced, beating compatriot Rasmus Gemke 21-16, 21-18.

Axelsen will play Ng Tze Yong of Malaysia while Antonsen will meet Lakshya Sen of India in the last 16 today.