Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanon, who won the OUE Singapore Open title in the island nation today with an 18-21 21-11 21-14 victory over China’s Sun Yu, has taken the World No. 1 ranking from Spaniard Carolina Marin.
The 21-year-old became the youngest ever singles World Champion in Badminton after she won the Championships in 2013, aged only 18, in Guangzhou, China. Last year, she won the women’s singles title at the Asian Championships in Wuhan, China.
Prior to winning the title in Singapore today, Intanon also won the titles at the India Open Super Series and the Malaysia Open.
Intanon is a badminton prodigy, winning her first international title aged only 14, winning the BWF World Junior Championships that same year. She told press assembled at the venue that her goal going into the match had been “to become World No. 1," and now that that goal had been accomplished, she was looking forward to the Olympic Games in Rio this August.
She is no stranger to the Games, making her first Olympic appearance in London in 2012. Intanon, playing China’s Wang Xin, progressed to the quarter-finals of that event and even looked prime for a semi-finals berth in a straight games victory, eventually choked to miss out on the running for an Olympic medal.
Intanon was not entirely pleased with her performance today, saying she “made a lot of mistakes, but so did my opponent.”
Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia won the men’s singles title, with top seed Chen Long crashing out earlier in the tournament. Indian shuttler PV Sindhu had been part of the tournament in the absence of Indian No. 1 Saina Nehwal, but failed to fire in Singapore.
