Local fans at the finals of the SCG Thailand Open badminton championships will have a lot to cheer today as the kingdom is gunning for three titles.
Second seed Ratchanok Inthanon faces top seed Saina Nehwal of India in the women's singles final at CU Sports Complex.
Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam are favourites to win the mixed doubles, while Saralee and Narissapat Lam are in the women's doubles final.
In the women's singles semi-finals, Ratchanok beat former world champion Lin Wang of China 21-13, 21-19 while world No.5 Nehwal defeated Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 24-22, 22-11.
"I am happy to reach the final here for the first time," said three-time defending world junior champion Ratchanok.
Ratchanok, who will represent Thailand at the Olympics, is 1-2 in her career record against the Indian.
In the semi-finals of the men's singles, unseeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia upset Olympic champion Lin Dan of China 21-17, 21-16.
In the final, he will face unseeded Chinese Chen Yuekun who beat compatriot Gao Huan 21-14, 21-15.
Second seeds Sudket and Saralee needed only 38 minutes to thrash fourth seeds Danny Chrisnanta and Yu Yan Vanessa of Indonesia in straight sets in the semi-finals.
The Thai pair will play unseeded Tao Jiaming and Jinhua Tang in the final after the Chinese duo stunned top seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-16, 21-17.
"We are lucky we don't have to face the top seeds in the final," admitted Saralee.
In the women's doubles, Saralee and Narissapat upset top seeds Huan Xia and Tang Jinhua of China 21-15, 22-20 in the semi-finals.
Their final opponents are China's fifth seeds Cheng Shu and Pan Pan who saw off Thais Duangkamol Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul in straight sets.
In the men's doubles final, top seeds Liu Xiaolong and Zihan Qiu of China will face Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif and Mohd Fariuzizuan Mohd Tazari of Malaysia.
The finals will be live on TrueSport 4 from noon.
