Shuttler Ratchanok ready for tough duels at World Tour Finals
Ratchanok ready for opener with Busanan
Thai star Ratchanok Intanon will begin her campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals against compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungphan in Guangzhou today.
In today’s other Group B game of the women’s singles, world No.1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan faces No.3 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Group A features defending champion Pusarla V Sindhu of India, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi and home players Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao.
The top two players and pairs in each group of the five categories will advance to the semi-finals.
Both Ratchanok, 24, and Busanan, 22, helped Thailand win the women’s team title at the ongoing SEA Games in the Philippines last week.
While world No.16 Busanan is a ranked outsider in the title race in Guangzhou, No.5 Ratchanok is considered a contender.
Ratchanok has been on the podium several times this year with two wins and three runner-up finishes.
However, she has been unable to pull off a Super 750 or 1000 event victory.
“I know that every player has a lot of experience. They are pushing themselves during training. I will also try to keep training harder,” Ratchanok told www.bwfbadminton.com.
“I know it’s not easy and not like the normal tournaments like the Super 500 and others. The top eight players are strong, and I have to keep training harder because I want to show my best performance,” added the former world No.1.
Playing in Guangzhou could be a good omen for Ratchanok whose career’s biggest triumph to date — the World Championships in 2013 — was achieved in the Chinese city.
In the mixed doubles, Thailand’s Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai take on Seo Seung-Jae and Chae Yu-Jung of South Korea.
In the other Group A match, defending champions Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping of China meet Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.
In Group B are China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, Indonesian pairs of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti and Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja, and Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
In the women’s doubles, Thailand’s Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai are up against world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan, while Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong face Lee So-Hee and Shin Seung-Chan in an all-Korean meeting in Group B.
Chinese pairs Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan and Du Yue and Li Yinhui are in Group A with Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan and Greysia
Polii and Apriyani Rahayu of Indonesia.
Top-ranked Kento Momota is hot favourite to win the men’s singles title.
The Japanese, winner of 10 titles this year including the World
Championships, was named the Badminton World Federation’s male player of the year at the players’ gala on Monday night.
China’s Huang Yaqiong picked up the female player of the year award for the second consecutive year.
Ratchanok won the best dressed player award with the men’s title went to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.