Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren, No.35 in the world rankings and with just three match wins in their last 18 individual events, pulled off the surprise of the day at the YONEX SUNRISE India Open 2024.

The Thais achieved one of the biggest results of their career, beating world No.1s Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, who on Sunday had emerged champions at the PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2024.

“Very happy,” said Jomkoh after the result gave them a ticket to the quarterfinals. “This is a very big win for us.”

The Chinese, despite trailing by a wide margin in the third, chipped back at the deficit, coming to within a couple of points of the Thais. Jomkoh and Kedren however closed it out before it got any tighter, clinching a spot against seventh seeds Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi, who got the better of Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin 15-21 21-15 21-9.

In the bottom quarter, local hopes Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty stayed on track to reclaim their 2022 title as they eased past Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han in straight games. Up next will be Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, against whom they have a 2-6 record.

The Danes had their hands full against rising Chinese pair Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi in the first two games, before they rocketed to a 10-0 lead in the decider.

“We’ve had a good run for a long time,” said Rasmussen. “And the last few times we’ve lost a few close games and matches. So getting this one in the second game is a confidence-booster. We see ourselves as really cool in those moments.

“Have you seen Fast and the Furious? Nitro boost – we switched that on.”

→ Results (Day 3)

→ Order of Play (Day 4)

WHAT OTHERS SAID:

“He’s 11-12 years younger, and if I start to think (he’s a threat), it’s never ending. I never think players coming behind as a threat … it’s always good competition and you are always looking to improve at training, and to have these players to spar with every day, it’s always going to be beneficial for all of us men’s singles players.” – HS Prannoy on Priyanshu Rajawat

“Although we train with them, it’s a new experience to play this pair. We prepared quite well against them. They have some special skills and are quite tough to play.” – Kang Min Hyuk on playing Kim Won Ho/Na Sung Seung