Big surprise as Taiwan pull out their top two stars

The Thai Davis Cup team, reeling under the absence of their star player Paradorn Srichaphan, got a pleasant surprise yesterday when hosts Taiwan announced that they will not be fielding their top two stars Lu Yen-hsun and Wang Yeu-tuzoo in their regional qualifying group I tie next week.

Taiwan, who have not put out the reason for their absence, will rely heavily on their B team consisting of Chen Ti and Lee Hsin-han, who are ranked No 3 and 4 in the country and ranked 321 and 768 in the world respectively. Liu Tai-wei and Yi Chu-huan are the other players.

Red-hot Danai Udomchoke, who catapulted to No 77 in world rankings this week, has emerged as the main hope for the Thai team. With Lu and Wang absent, Danai is expected to collect two points from his singles matches. Asian Games silver medallists Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana should have no problem in the doubles match too.

Thailand must get three points to move past Taiwan in the first round of the Asian/Oceania Qualifying Group I, which will be held this weekend. Debutant Weerapat Doakmaiklee, who replaced the injured Paradorn, has never played in a best of five sets match before and his chances of winning here are seen as minimal.

The winner of the tie will play either Japan or China in the second round in April. Meanwhile, the Thai team is worried about its safety after a bomb attack on the Daily News, which is situated next to the Rama Gardens Hotel where the team is staying, on Tuesday. While the Ratiwatana twins are still staying at the hotel, Danai returned home.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation
Thu, February 1, 2007