THE SUN DAILY REPORTS
IN THE just concluded Badminton World Federation (BWF) Championships in Guangzhou, China, Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand took the women’s crown, beating China’s Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, to become the youngest world champion ever, at the age of 18.
Ratchanok is the first Thai and first non-Chinese woman to win the world championship since Denmark’s Camilla Martin lifted the title in 1999.
Upon her arrival back from China, Ratchanok (or “May”, as she is fondly called) has received an award from the royal family, given press conferences and attended a talk show – as Thailand celebrated their first ever badminton world champion.
And, typical of the determination and ambition of Thai sports figures, May said: “I’m even more inspired to work harder and will try to win more tournaments”, setting herself the twin targets of becoming world number one (she’s currently No. 3) – and winning the 2016 Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.
Over the years, May has been BWF’s youngest world junior champion, winning that title three years running. She has also won a host of regional events and was a finalist at the 2013 All England Badminton Championships.
Given her outstanding record, May has every possible chance of achieving her targets.
However, equally, if not more inspiring to all young sportsmen and women must be May’s background – her rise to becoming a true champion and her determination to achieve even more through hard work but not letting all the praise and glamour go to her head.
May’s father and mother were both factory workers in Nakhon Pathom province in central Thailand. In their impoverished neighbourhood, as a child, May played around the factory and later in the open-air makeshift badminton courts.
As her badminton talent was spotted, she began playing in local, provincial and later national tournaments. There was no sophisticated, expensive training stints or big sponsorships for her. But as May earned modest prize money, she used most of it to support her parents and only brother.
She helped her father open a food stall, at which she and her brother helped after school on the outskirts of Bangkok. May was quoted as saying: “I wanted to be a national player like my older friends and play for the country, because that is the only way I could help my parents to improve our status and leave poverty”.
Winning the recent world title, May’s immediate plan was to buy a refrigerator and a washing machine for her mother Kamphan, who still works in a sweet factory.
Kamphan said of her daughter: “I always taught her to be humble as she was not from a rich family. I told her to be well behaved. She is a very disciplined girl. That’s why she has got to this stage”.
Ratchanok Inthanon is certainly an inspiration to all who want to achieve the highest and the best through hard work – but one that has always remained humble and caring.
