Mixed doubles pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran cruised into the quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in China while men's defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn fought back to seal his place in the last eight yesterday.
Third seeds and world No.3 Thai pair Dechapol and Supissara defeated Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara of Japan in the last 16 21-9, 21-16 in 38 minutes.
The Thai pair had previously defeated the Japanese duo in two straight games in their only encounter last year. Yesterday, Dechapol and Supissara once again displayed excellent teamwork, using their superior speed and precision to win in two straight games.
They will face sixth seeds and world No.7 pair Gao Xinwa and Chen Fanghui of China in the last eight.
Men's singles top seed Kunlavut dropped the first game against Yushi Tanaka of Japan 8-21 but came back to take the second and third games, 21-18, 21-5 to progress to the quarter-finals of the US$550,000 tournament.
Kunlavut will battle it out against China's Weng Hongyang for a place in the semi-finals.
Women's singles hopes Pornpawee Chochuwong and Busanan Ongbamrungphan both bowed out to Japanese opponents yesterday.
Eighth seed Pornpawee fell to Nozomi Okuhara 18-21, 21-19, 14-21 while Busanan lost to fourth seed Akane Yamaguchi 12-21, 12-21.
Men's doubles pair Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn/Worrapol Thongsa-nga and women's doubles players Hathaithip Mijad/Napapakorn Tungsatan also exited the tournament in the last 16 stage yesterday.
In other results, women's top seed An Se-Young of South Korea, men's second seed Shi Yuqi of China and men's No.3 seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia all moved safely through to the last eight yesterday.