PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Ratchanok Intanon’s (pic) hopes of competing in the women’s singles in the Hangzhou Asian Games have been dashed.
An ankle injury has not only ruled the Thai player out of the Asiad but she looks set to miss out on all tournaments for the rest of the year.
“It really, really hurts to make this decision,” lamented Ratchanok on her social media page.
“Let it be and fight again next year.
“Time to refresh and recover and I will be back on court in 2024.”
World No. 8 Ratchanok had injured her ankle in the Hong Kong Open in Kowloon last week and had been forced to concede a walkover to Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in the second round.
Ratchanok’s best achievement this year was finishing runners-up in the Canada Open in July.
The 2013 world champion’s absence is a blow to Thailand as she is the top ranked women’s singles player in the country.
The 28-year-old helped the women’s team win silver and bronze in the 2010 Guangzhou and 2018 Jakarta editions respectively.
Thailand will now be relying on world No. 12 Pornpawee Chochuwong in the individual event.
In the women’s team event, world No. 16 Busanan Ongbamrungphan and world No. 17 Supanida Katethong will be counted on to support Pornpawee and deliver the points.
Thailand are seeded fourth in the women’s team behind top seeds China, South Korea (No. 2) and Japan (No. 3)
The men’s and women’s team events are set to be held from Sept 28-Oct 1 at the Binjiang Gymnasium while the individual events will be from Oct 2-7.
