The first Thai badminton player to reach the No.1 ranking in women’s singles, Ratchanok Intanon is famous for her balletic style of footwork. She was the youngest ever winner of the BWF World Junior title at 14 years old, and became the youngest ever world champion in women’s singles in 2013. Intanon is a medal hopeful for Thailand at the Tokyo Olympics, and is training hard to achieve her ambition of Olympic Gold.
Born in Yasothon, Thailand, Intanon began playing badminton at Banthongyord Badminton School when she was six years old. She rose to prominence in 2009 when she won the BWF World Junior Championships in Malaysia, the youngest-ever champion of the event at just 14 years old. She defended her title a year later, and in 2011 became the most successful ever player at the BWF World Junior Championships when she won the women’s singles title for a third consecutive year.
In 2012 she was given the Best Female Athlete Award in Thailand and also reached the quarter-final stage at the 2012 London Olympics. 2013 saw Intanon achieve even greater success when she won the BWF World Championships beating Olympic Champion Li Xuerui, becoming the youngest ever singles World Champion. Since then Intanon has continued to perform at the pinnacle of the sport, winning her first title of 2020 against Carolina Marin to clinch the Indonesia Masters and proving that she can beat the very best players in the world. Currently ranked inside the World’s Top 5 best players, she has her sights on the medal podium at the Tokyo Olympic Games.