Thailand’s Supanida Katethong punched her ticket to the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou next month, edging compatriot Pornpawee Chochuwong in a tight race.

Katethong made things easy for herself with a convincing 21-14 21-17 win over Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min in the LI-NING China Masters 2024 quarterfinals.

She then sat back and waited for the outcome of the Chochuwong-Gao Fang Jie quarterfinal. Victory for Chochuwong would have teed up a tantalising all-Thai semifinal showdown for one of the two remaining women’s singles slots in Hangzhou. But that never eventuated as Gao proved too strong 21-18 21-14.

Supanida said she was not too pre-occupied about the outcome of the match.

“Today I did not want to pressure myself. If it [qualifying for Finals] happened it happened. I just wanted to think about what I had to do on the court. I just wanted to enjoy the game and stick to my game plan.”

Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki increased her odds of claiming the last place in Hangzhou defeating compatriot Natsuki Nidaira. The teenager now just needs to reach the final in Shenzhen to leapfrog Akane Yamaguchi in the HSBC Race to Finals standings.

Standing in her way is world No.1 and Olympic champion, An Se Young. It will be a remarkable effort for Miyazaki in her first full year on tour.

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