Ratchanok Intanon heralds a great new era of badminton

We must go back 14 years. That’s how long ago a non-Chinese player won the women’s singles at the World Badminton Championships.

Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in action during her women’s singles final match against Li Xuerui of China during the Badminton World Championships at the Tianhe Gymnasium on August 11, 2013 in Guangzhou, China. (Photo by Victor Fraile/Getty Images)

On Sunday, as Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand conjured a mesmeric performance to outplay Olympic champion Li Xuerui (22-20 18-21 21-14), she did more than just win a world title. She became its youngest women’s singles winner; she became the first from Thailand to win a world title; and she promises much, much more.

Much of the significance of Intanon’s win was in its method and context. Li Xuerui is the most formidable player of the post-Zhang Ning era, a winner of all the major titles so far except the World Championships. Not having the greater speed, reach or attacking abilities of Li Xuerui, Intanon compensate with her sheer variety and deception. She worked the shuttle through improbable angles, unleashing her smash only when she needed to. At the net she displayed astonishing finesse. It was a demonstration of how a player could combat the greater physical abilities of an opponent.

Still, the beginning of the match foretold a Li Xuerui win. Her speed saw her reach Intanon’s deceptive strokes, while her fierce smashes breached Intanon’s defence often enough. The first game seemed a formality with her 19-13 ahead.

A stirring fightback began. It all started with a couple of brilliant defensive returns to sure-shot winners from Xuerui, and Intanon steadily closed the gap. The Chinese had three game points at 20-17, but incredibly, Intanon won the next five points and the game.

The second game was close all the way. At 7-8 came evidence of Intanon’s great net skill – she took a tumbling shuttle from below the net and sent it just over the tape. Xuerui’s greater attacking prowess helped her take the match to a decider.

If the shift in momentum had affected Intanon, it didn’t show. She started running away with the match, breaking Xuerui’s rhythm with some unexpected shots on either flank. The Olympic champion came close at 12-14 but Intanon again powered ahead. Towards the end, the Thai was so dominant that Xuerui started committing simple errors – a sure sign that her composure had faltered on the biggest of stages.

When Intanon converted match point, she caused a huge shift in the power structure of world badminton. Women’s singles and doubles have been the citadels around which China’s power revolved over the last decade. Intanon has caused a rupture in this structure. She became only the third non-Chinese player to take the crown since the Chinese started contesting the World Championships in 1983.

Former India chief coach Vimal Kumar, who was closely associated with Prakash Padukone during the latter’s prime, compared Intanon’s style with Prakash’s. “It’s a brilliant win… it shows that this sort of badminton, which is also nice to watch, can succeed. She reminds me of the way Prakash played against the Chinese. She played an all-round game, not just smashes, but flicks and at the net as well. It’s an exciting time in women’s singles badminton, but the same cannot be said of men’s singles. Apart from Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan, the others are all of the same level.”

Intanon’s win will cause other changes. Thailand will celebrate her, and there will be more focus there on badminton. As it is, there are four other talented women’s singles – Porntip, Busanan, Nichaon Jindapon, and Sapsiree Taerattanachai. Just as Saina revolutionised the game in India, Intanon will in Thailand.