Ratchanok Intanon (Thai:รัชนก อินทนนท์,RTGS: Ratchanok Inthanon,pronounced[rát.t͡ɕʰā.nókʔīn.tʰā.nōn]; born 5 February 1995) is a Thaibadminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by commentators such asGillian Clark.[2] She became the world champion in women's singles in 2013.
In 2008, Ratchanok entered the international circuit at the age of 13. The first international tournament she played was theLaos International series, in which she played both singles and doubles. She lost the singles final to Vietnam'sLê Ngọc Nguyên Nhung.[3] She won her first individual international title in 2009 by winning theVietnam International Challenge when she was 14.[4] She made history by becoming the youngest-ever champion at the2009 BWF World Junior Championships at 14 in Malaysia by beating her compatriot Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.[5] She reached the final of theMalaysia International Challenge 2009, losing out toSapsiree Taerattanachai.[6] She also reached the2009 SEA Games women's singles final, but lost to her compatriotSalakjit Ponsana.
In 2012, Ratchanok, at 16 years of age, was awarded the Best Female Athlete Award in Thailand after winning the world junior title for three successive years.[16] She reached the finals of theThailand Open but lost toSaina Nehwal.[17] After defeating the higher-seededJuliane Schenk of Germany in round of 16, she reached the quarter-finals of the2012 Olympic Games where she lost to second seed Wang Xin despite leading 21–17 and 16–9 in the second game.[18] She entered the finals of a Superseries tournament for the first time in theChina Open but lost toLi Xuerui 12–21, 9–21.[19] She qualified for the2012 BWF Superseries Finals and won all of her group matches in straight games against Juliane Schenk,Tine Baun andSaina Nehwal. She lost in the semi-finals there toWang Shixian.[20] She finished the year as world number 9.
Ratchanok reached the finals of theAll England Open, losing toTine Rasmussen 14–21, 21–16, 10–21.[21] She is the youngest ever singles finalist at the All England Open.[22] She lost in the final of theSwiss Open Grand Prix Gold after being defeated by Wang Shixian.[23] She won her first Superseries tournament by beatingJuliane Schenk 22–20, 21–14 in theIndia Open[24] to become the youngest-ever Superseries winner at the age of 18 years, 2 months and 22 days (she held this record for 6 months untilAkane Yamaguchi won the2013 Japan Super Series at the age of 16). She again reached the finals of theThailand Open, winning the title after beatingBusanan Ongbamrungphan[25] to become the first Thai ever to win the women's singles title at the Thailand Open since it was first held in 1984.
Ratchanok withdrew from both the Indonesia and Singapore Opens to recover from a foot injury and prepare for the BWF World Championships. InWorld Championships in August, she was seeded fourth. She reached the quarter-finals of this tournament for the first time, where she defeatedCarolina Marín in a very hard-fought encounter.[26] Her semi-finals path was relatively easy, where she won againstP. V. Sindhu in two games.[27] In the final, she won the title, beating world number 1 and Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui 22–20, 18–21, 21–14.[28] She was the first-ever Thai player to be the World Champion and was also the youngest singles World Champion ever at the age of 18. She became the world champion while still being eligible to play in the World Junior Championships that year. After the World Championships, she injured her back and failed to qualify for theSuper Series Finals, finishing the year as the world number three. She was awarded the "2013 Best Females Athletes Award" from the Thailand Sports Authority.[29]
In 2014, Ratchanok reached the final of theKorea Open for the first time, meetingWang Yihan and continuing her losing streak against Wang.[30] She was awarded "Best Asian Sporting Icon" byFox Sports Asia, based on voting from internet fans on its website.[31] She reached the finals of theIndonesia Open but lost toLi Xuerui.[32] She failed to defend herWorld Championships title after losing in the third round toMinatsu Mitani.[33] She was defeated byBae Yeon-ju in the quarter-finals of the2014 Asian Games.[34] She qualified for theSuperseries Finals in Dubai but failed to pass the round-robin stage after losing group matches againstTai Tzu-ying and Akane Yamaguchi. She finished the 2014 year as world number 6.
In 2015, Ratchanok made a comeback by reaching the final of theIndia Open for the second time but lost to her opponentSaina Nehwal.[35] A month later, she became the first Thai singles player to win theAsia Championships by defeating Li Xuerui in the final 20–22, 23–21, 21–12 in China.[36] It was the first time that Ratchanok had beaten Li since the final of the 2013 World Championships. In June, she won her first Superseries Premier title by beatingYui Hashimoto of Japan in straight games at theIndonesia Open.[37] However, at theBWF World Championships, she had to retire from court when 8–5 up in the decider againstLindaweni Fanetri in the round of 16 from cramps.[38]
Ratchanok won a gold medal with the Thailand women's team at the2015 SEA Games in Singapore. After the Indonesia Open, she did not reach the final of any tournaments but earned enough points to qualify for theDubai World Superseries Finals. In the group stage, she lost to Wang Yihan, but won two other matches against Wang Shixian and Sung Ji-hyun, progressing to the semi-finals. She lost to Wang Yihan there, which brought their head-to-head record to 0–12.[39] She finished the 2015 season at world number seven.
In 2016, Ratchanok won theThailand Masters, a second Grand Prix Gold tournament in Thailand, by beatingSun Yu in the final.[40] She won theIndia Open for the second time by beating Li Xuerui in the final.[41] In theMalaysia Open the week after, she defeated Wang Yihan for the first time by beating her in the semi-final. In the final, she beat Tai Tzu-ying to earn the Malaysia Open title for the first time.[42] This was the first time she had won two consecutive Superseries tournaments; Ratchanok then became the first singles player to win three Superseries in three consecutive weeks[43] by winning theSingapore Super Series, defeating Sun Yu in the final. By winning three Superseries in a row, she also rose to the number 1 spot in the world rankings, becoming the first Thai to achieve this feat. Her winning streak ended after she lost toSayaka Sato in theAsian Championships.[44]
Ratchanok qualified for the2016 Summer Olympics and was theThai flag bearer.[45] At the Olympics she failed to pass the round of 16, losing to Akane Yamaguchi, in two games: 19–21, 16–21.[46] After the Olympics, she suffered a knee injury which forced her to retire from subsequent tournaments. In theSuperseries Finals, Ratchanok lost in straight games to Sung Ji-hyun and Tai Tzu-ying, and retired injured againstHe Bingjiao. She finished 2016 at a world ranking of five.
Ratchanok played in her first tournament of 2017 in March, theAll England Open. She made her way to the quarter-finals, where she faced off against world no. 2 Carolina Marín. She won after being down 11–18 in the rubber set but won 10 straight points to close out the match.[47] After defeating Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-finals, she was defeated by Tai Tzu-ying 16–21, 20–22.[48]
Ratchanok later in the year took theThailand Open title, beating compatriotBusanan Ongbamrungphan in the final.[49] She also won theNew Zealand Open beatingSaena Kawakami.[50] She was disappointed in theWorld Championships when she lost toChen Yufei in the quarter-finals.[51] After defeating Sung Ji-hyun and Tai Tzu-ying in theDenmark Open, Ratchanok beat Akane Yamaguchi in the final in three games after being 16–19 down in the final game; she won the game 21–19. She said that she dedicated the title to Thailand's king,Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had died the year before.[52] She qualified for the season-endingSuperseries Finals, where she defeated Sung Ji-hyun and Tai Tzu-ying and lost the third group match to Chen Yufei. She was defeated in the semi-finals by Akane Yamaguchi in three games after she was leading in the final game.[53]
At the beginning of the year, Ratchanok won theMalaysia Masters Super 500, beating Tai Tzu-ying in the finals, winning 24–22 in the third set.[54] In theWorld Championships, she lost toSaina Nehwal in the third round.[55] At theAsian Games, Ratchanok made it to the quarter-final stage before losing out to Nehwal.[56] She made the finals of theHong Kong Open, losing toNozomi Okuhara.[57] She qualified for theBWF World Tour Finals, where she ended her losing streak againstChen Yufei. She lost to Nozomi Okuhara but defeated Canada'sMichelle Li to secure a semi-finals spot. She lost in the semi-finals to eventual gold medalistP. V. Sindhu.[58] She finished the year at world no. 8.
In 2019, Ratchanok won theMalaysia Masters Super 500, defending her title by winning in straight games for all her matches, including the final where she beat Carolina Marín.[59] At the final ofGerman Open Super 300, she lost to Akane Yamaguchi in three games, losing 23–25 in the deciding game.[60] She then won her thirdIndia Open title by beatingHe Bingjiao. This was Ratchanok's first victory over her.[61] She lost the final ofThailand Open toChen Yufei in two games.[62] She won the bronze medal atBasel World Championship after losing to Nozomi Okuhara in the semi-finals.[63] Ratchanok was one point away from winning theKorea Open against He Bingjiao, but she saved four match points and won the next game.[64]
Ratchanok failed an out-of-competition drug test in April but was not banned by the BWF.[65] The BWF statement reads: "The ethics hearing panel determined Ms. Ratchanok Intanon committed an anti-doping rule violation, but as the athlete was able to demonstrate that her adverse analytical finding was related to the ingestion of meat contaminated with clenbuterol, she was found to bear no fault or negligence for the violation, and thus no period of ineligibility has been imposed on her." She lost again to Chen Yufei in the final of theHong Kong Open.[66] She participated in theWorld Tour Finals, where she beatBusanan Ongbamrungphan, lost to Tai Tzu-ying, and lost to Nozomi Okuhara in the last group match. Ratchanok's first title of 2020 came when she won theIndonesia Masters title by beating Carolina Marín in three game.[67]
For 2021 season, Ratchanok managed to reach one final inIndonesia Open where she lost toAn Se-young in the finals.[68] Ratchanok also manage to qualify for2020 Olympics which she excelled in the group stage but got knocked out at the round of 16 to Tai Tzu-ying in three sets of 21–14, 18–21, 18–21.[69] The next year, Indonesia proved to be her strong domain as she excelled to the final again, this time inIndonesia Masters. In the final, she fought in a grueling three sets match where she ended up losing toChen Yufei.[70] She manage to avenge this lost with a win against Chen inMalaysia Open with another grueling three sets between them in the process to the title.[71]
In July 2023, Ratchanok advanced to her next final inCanada Open after one year and a half drought in which she lost toAkane Yamaguchi.[72] Three months later in September, Ratchanok was scheduled to compete at theHangzhou 2022 Asian Games. She withdrew from the competition and the rest of the 2023 tour due to the ankle injury she suffered in theHong Kong Open.[73] After a 3-month hiatus, Ratchanok returned to the international tour at theMalaysia Open in January 2024.[74] She then won theSpain Masters in March.[75] Ratchanok competed for the fourth time at the Olympics in the2024 Paris, but again failed to win a medal after losing in the quarter-finals toGregoria Mariska Tunjung.[76] In October, she finished as a finalist at theArctic Open.[77]
In 2025, Ratchanok started the year with a good performance by winningIndonesia Masters against a young player from South Korea,Sim Yu-jin.[78] Ratchanok won her second title late in the year when she beatGregoria Mariska Tunjung, who were in the final forJapan Masters for three straight years, in straight sets.[79]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[86] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by theBadminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[87]
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,[88] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by theBadminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels wereSuperseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011.[89] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.
Ratchanok is the daughter of Winutchai Intanon ofYasothon and Kumpan Suvarsara ofRoi Et. She was born inYasothon Province in the northeast of Thailand, but moved at the age of three months with her parents, who worked at the Banthongyord sweets factory in theBang Khae District ofBangkok. As a child, she would accompany her parents to work. Factory owner Kamala Thongkorn, worried that she would be burned by boiling water and hot sugar, allowed her to play at the factory's badminton courts. She started playing when she was six years old, and won her first championship at the age of seven.[90][91][92][93][94]
Ratchanok used her prize money and endorsement fees to aid her parents and brother. Her father opened a food shop with her help. "I wanted to be a national player like my older friends and play for the country, because that was the only way I could help my parents to improve our status and leave poverty," she has said.[95]
Ratchanok trains at the Banthongyord Badminton School. Her coach isPatapol Ngernsrisuk, former Olympian and son of Kamala Thongkorn.[96]
In 2024, she would retire after 2024 Olympics to work fulltime for the Central Police Station as a detective.[97]
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018)."Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation.Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved15 January 2018.
.jpg)
Li Xuerui
Gold
Nozomi Okuhara
Bronze
Salakjit Ponsana
Silver
Fu Mingtian
Elyzabeth Purwaningtyas
Tai Tzu-ying
Winner
Runner-up
Carolina Marín
An Se-young
Tine Baun
Juliane Schenk
Saina Nehwal
Lê Ngọc Nguyên Nhung
