Ratchanok to play at Open
World No.5 Ratchanok Intanon and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk will lead the local challenge at the SCG Thailand Open next month.
After yesterday’s registration deadline, 292 players from 17 countries are confirmed to play in this tournament to be held at Muang Thong Thani from Sept 29-Oct 4.
The event offers qualifying points fo the 2016 Olympics.
Among the participants are 109 from Thailand, 57 from Indonesia, 23 from China, 20 from Hong Kong, 18 from South Korea and 13 each from Japan and Malaysia.
Reigning Asian champion Ratchanok will be the top seed in the women’s singles.
The other Thai women include world No.17 Busanan Ongbumrungpan, No. 22 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, and No.38 Nichaon Jindapol.
Among the favourites in the women’s event are South Korea’s world No.8 Sung Ji-Hyun and No.12 Bae Yeon-Ju, and world No.11 Yu Sun from China.
In the men’s singles, world No.21 Tanongsak will be the second highestranked player, behind No.19 Tommy Gugiarto of Indonesia. Thai veteran Boonsak Ponsana is also in the tournament.
In the women’s doubles, Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, ranked fifth in the world, will be clear favourites after reaching the semifinals at the world championships earlier this month.
Nahathai Sornprachum, secretarygeneral of the Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT), said that despite last week’s Ratchaprasong blast, the tournament had still attracted some of the world’s top players.
“Nobody has withdrawn from the tournament,’’ she said.