Ratchanok Intanon

She again reached the finals of the Thailand Open, winning the title after beating Busanan Ongbamrungphan to become the first Thai ever to win the women's singles title at the Thailand Open since it was first held in 1984.

Intanon withdrew from both the Indonesia Open SSP and Singapore Open SS to recover from a foot injury and prepare for the BWF World Championships.

In World Championships in August, she was seeded fourth.

She reached the quarterfinals of this tournament for the first time, where she defeated Carolina Marín in a very hard-fought encounter.

Her semifinal path was relatively easy, where she won against P. V. Sindhu in two games.

In the final, she won the title, beating world number 1 and Olympic gold medalist Li Xuerui 22–20, 18–21, 21–14.

She was the first-ever Thai player to be the World Champion and was also the youngest singles World Champion ever at the age of 18.

She became the world champion while still being eligible to play in the World Junior Championships that year.

Ratchanok Intanon (รัชนก อินทนนท์,, ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles.

She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by commentators such as Gillian Clark.

In 2008, Intanon entered the international circuit at the age of 13.

The first international tournament she played was the Laos International series, in which she played both singles and doubles.

She lost the singles final to Vietnam's Lê Ngọc Nguyên Nhung.

Intanon won her first individual international title in 2009 by winning the Vietnam International Challenge when she was 14.

She made history by becoming the youngest-ever champion at the 2009 BWF World Junior Championships at 14 in Malaysia by beating her compatriot Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

She reached the final of the Malaysia International Challenge 2009, losing out to Sapsiree Taerattanachai.

She also reached the 2009 SEA Games women's singles final, but lost to her compatriot Salakjit Ponsana.

In 2010, at the age of 15, she successfully defended her title at the 2010 BWF World Junior Championships in Mexico by beating Misaki Matsutomo.

Her successful run continued after she won Smiling Fish International Event, beating teammate Rawinda Prajongjai.

She won back-to-back Grand Prix tournaments by winning the Vietnam Open Grand Prix beating China's Zhou Hui and the Indonesia Grand Prix Gold after defeating Cheng Shao-chieh from Chinese Taipei.

In the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, she won a silver medal as a member of the women's team.

In the final, she lost to Wang Xin, at that time world number 1.

Intanon participated in BWF World Championships and lost in the third round to eventual winner Wang Yihan.

She was a finalist at the Chinese Taipei Open, where she was defeated by Sung Ji-hyun.

She became the most successful player ever in individual events at the BWF World Junior Championships, winning the women's singles title for the third straight time by defeating Indonesia's Elyzabeth Purwaningtyas.

She won the India Open Grand Prix Gold where she received a walkover against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in final.

She was also a member of the women's team that defeated Indonesia in the final of the 2011 SEA Games.

She herself was a bronze medalist in singles event, where she lost in the semi-finals to Singapore's Fu Mingtian.

In 2012, Intanon, at 16 years of age, was awarded the Best Female Athlete Award in Thailand after winning the world junior title for three successive years.

She reached the finals of the Thailand Open but lost to Saina Nehwal.

After defeating the higher-seeded Juliane Schenk of Germany in round of 16, she reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympic Games where she lost to second seed Wang Xin despite leading 21–17 and 16–9 in the second game.

She entered the finals of a Super Series tournament for the first time in the China Open but lost to Li Xuerui 12–21, 9–21.

She qualified for the 2012 BWF Super Series Finals and won all of her group matches in straight games against Juliane Schenk, Tine Baun and Saina Nehwal.

She lost in the semifinals there to Wang Shixian.

She finished the year as world number 9.

Intanon reached the finals of the All England Open, losing to Tine Rasmussen 14–21, 21–16, 10–21.

She is the youngest ever singles finalist at the All England Open.

She lost in the final of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold after being defeated by Wang Shixian.

She became the world champion in women's singles in 2013.

She won her first Superseries tournament by beating Juliane Schenk 22–20, 21–14 in the India Open to become the youngest-ever Superseries winner at the age of 18 years, 2 months and 22 days (she held this record for 6 months until Akane Yamaguchi won the 2013 Japan Super Series at the age of 16).