Thai athletes win medals in TKD Korea Open 2011

BANGKOK, 20 July 2011 (NNT) – 2010 Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Worawong Pongpanich wins a gold medal from the eighth Chucheon Open International Taekwondo Championships 2011, arranged in the Republic of Korea from 14 to 19 July 2011.

Ms Worawong, a Thai taekwondo athlete, showed her outstanding performance by beating her rival from Mexico in the final match of the female bantam weight or under 55 kilogram division and grabbed one gold medal for the Thai team in the competition on 18 July.

The Thai champion of the first Youth Olympic Games at Singapore last year defeated the Japanese competitor by 12-1 points in the first match and beat another three rivals before reaching the championships match.

In addition, the Thai Taekwondo team claimed one silver and two bronze medals in the competition by Mr Peerathep Sila-on in the men’s under 68 kilogram or feather weight division, Mr Patchara Somjing in the under 63 kg division and Ms Preawwan Wanna-osot in the women’s under 44 kg division respectively.

China On Top Of The World

China have won the 2011 PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup after they defeated Northern Ireland in a thrilling final.

The Chinese duo of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo completed a 4-2 victory over the Irish pair of Mark Allen and Gerard Greene at the Bangkok Convention Centre.

This is the first time China have ever won the title and Ding was delighted with his side’s achievement.

“When the last World Cup was held (in 1996) I was nine and had only just picked up my first cue a few months before,” said Ding.

“We both played really well. We got off to a good start and were 3-0 ahead but in the fourth frame I missed a blue to make it 3-1. I had a good chance to win that frame and when we were 3-0 up I thought we would finish it in the fourth.

“We’re the best two players from China and I’m very proud of China and us to win the World Cup.

“You don’t get many chances to play in this tournament and this is the first time I’ve played in it but I hope I can play in this more times and win more times.

“Liang played very well and better than last season. Last year there was a lot of pressure on him but you need to understand he will come back and play better and better.”



Breaks of 84 and 46 helped China move into a 3-0 lead but a 115 from Greene in the fourth and 69 from Allen in the fifth made it 3-2 but Ding and Liang’s effort of 89 in the doubles saw them lift the trophy and collect the $200,000.

Allen believed it was always going to be difficult to recover from their poor start.

He said: “We were up against it from the start and in the first two frames China played flawless snooker. It was about digging in and staying in the match and we managed to win two frames.

“But they played better snooker so deserved to win. It’s disappointing but we found ourselves 2-0 down through no fault of our own.

“We came here with expectations to do well and tried to play well in every match.

“If someone had said we would get to the final then we would’ve taken it but being in the final you never want to finish runners-up.

“We’ve won a bit of money to put in the bank but it’s a shame we couldn’t lift the trophy.”

Earlier in the day, Northern Ireland won a 4-3 thriller against Hong Kong but tournament favourites Wales lost 4-1 to China in the other semi-final.

"We lost one on a respotted black and one on a black,” said Mark Williams.

“We've tried our best in hard conditions. We were two balls away from it being 3-1 and I should've won against Liang and if Matthew potted the red in the last he would've dished up and we're back in it.

"The three favourites - Wales, Scotland and England - went out early but if it was best of nine there's no way the likes of Scotland would be out so soon. One frame opens it up for everybody.

"China only qualified through their last match and could've gone out. But it's another tournament Barry (Hearn) has put on and we would all rather be playing.”

Quarter-final line up takes shape

Hong Kong China needed just one frame in their last PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup Group D match Friday evening to qualify for the quarter-finals but they picked up two and so comfortably progressed to the tournament's knockout rounds.

Hong Kong's 3-2 loss to second-seeded Scotland meant elimination for Thailand 2 pair of Thepchaiya Un-nooh and Passakorn Suwannawat, who earlier defeated Poland 4-1 with Passakorn producing a break of 139 points - the highest of the tournament thus far.

Scotland topped the Group D standings with 13 points while Hong Kong finished second with 11 points to their credit. Thailand 2 settled for third place in the group with 10 points.

Pakistan's dream of becoming the only amateur team to make it to the quarter-finals of the 700,000 US dollar tournament at the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld hinged on the result of the match in the last Group A match between Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

Wales, led by reigning world No. 1 Mark J. Williams, succeeded as expected in beating the Irish pair of former world champion Ken Doherty and Fergal O'Brien but they could not deliver the 4-1 win that Pakistan were hoping for.

The 3-2 Welsh win gave them the top spot in Group A with a tally of 14 points and they were followed by Ireland at No. 2 spot in the standings with 11 points. Pakistan ended their campaign in third place with 10 points.

Earlier, Australia became the third team to qualify for the quarter-finals, which will be played Saturday afternoon.

Former world champion Neil Robertson and amateur Steve Mifsud delivered the goods on Thursday night when they registered a hard-fought 4-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates.

The result left China needing a heavy win over Thailand 1 in their last Group D match late on Friday night to overtake Malta in the standings and qualify for the quarter-final.

Robertson said after the win: "At the start of the day we knew we needed three frames to force a play-off in the worst case so 4-1 was the result we wanted. Steve and I played perfectly for the first three frames, Steve had a nervy one in the fourth and I had one in the fifth.

"Last time there was a Snooker World Cup (in 1996) Australia got to the quarter-finals so hopefully we can go one step further. We've played in the hardest group and it doesn't matter who we play now."

The other teams who have been guaranteed places in the quarter-finals are England and Northern Ireland.

Thai athletes win medals in TKD Korea Open 2011

China On Top Of The World

Quarter-final line up takes shape