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Friday October 23, 2009

Porntip aims to emulate Saina’s success

SAINA Nehwal stunned the badminton world by handing India a historic first title in the world junior championships in Pune last year.

Thailand have never produced a champion in the series and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Saina in her third and final attempt to become champion in this edition in Alor Setar.

Despite being a regular in the senior scene and having reached the last 16 in the Super Series tournaments in Japan and Indonesia, the 18-year-old has also not got her hands on an Asian junior title.

Porntip at training

In the World Juniors last year, she was beaten by Japan’s Sayaka Sato (17-21, 16-21) in the semi-finals.

At the Asian Juniors in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, she failed to live up to her top seeding, crashing out tamely to team-mate Sayaka Takahashi (4-21, 17-21) in the second round.

“I was very upset with myself for failing to shine in Kuala Lumpur,” said the world No. 41 yesterday.

“It’s the last chance for me to win a world junior title here.

“I want to help Thailand to a title before leaving the junior ranks.

“I have been training hard for this meet and feel confident of doing better than the semi-final appearance at the last championships.

“But first, I want to help Thailand achieve the semi-final target in the mixed team event.”

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