Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand celebrates after defeating Carolina Marin of Spain in their women's singles final match at the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament in Jakarta on January 19, 2020. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
THAILAND’S Ratchanok Intanon is setting her sights on capturing a second world title eight years after her famous triumph at the age of 18.
Since becoming the youngest ever singles world champion in 2013 and Thailand’s first winner, Ratchanok has tried again and again but has not managed to repeat her success.
The closest the world No. 8 came to was in Basel in 2019 when she won a bronze.
“Every player wants to be a world champion and I am one of them. I really want to win it again and will go all out for it,” said Ratchanok.
The World Championships is from Aug 21-28 in Tokyo.
The 27-year-old showed that she was ready to fight to the end to win the world title again after recording a gritty come-from-behind win over South Korea’s Sim Yu-jin yesterday.
Ratchanok gave everything she had to stave off the spirited Korean and win 24-26, 21-4, 22-20 in 58 minutes to set up a meeting with Zhang Beiwen of the United States in the second round.
“It was a tough match and I had to fight hard for every point. The draught also made it harder but luckily I managed to control the shuttle better towards the end and win,” explained Ratchanok.
She is hoping to end a two-year title drought with her last triumph coming in the 2020 Indonesian Masters.
She came agonisingly close to ending her wait in the Indonesian Masters a little more than two weeks ago but was denied in the final by China’s Chen Yufei.
“It will be great if I can win two or three titles this year. For now, I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself but just enjoy myself on court. I tend to do better when I’m relaxed,” said Ratchanok.
Going all the way in the Malaysian Open which she has won once before in 2016 could give the Thai star the right tonic to realise her dream of winning more titles and becoming a world champion again.
