Teenager Ratchanok Intanon moved to second in the latest world rankings published yesterday following her win at the world championships on Sunday.
Ratchanok Intanon receives a blazer from national police chief Adul Sangsingkaew yesterday. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN
The 18-year-old, who was third in the previous standings, has 78,028 points with China's Li Xuerui remaining No.1 on 85,819 points.
Li, who took the top spot in December, lost to Ratchanok in the women's singles final at the Guangzhou championships.
The 22-year-old, who is the reigning Olympic champion, has won two titles and finished second in three tournaments this season.
With Li holding a huge lead, it is not likely that Ratchanok will be able to overtake the Chinese this year.
Ratchanok started the year in ninth place and moved to fifth after four months. She reached the top three five weeks later before dropping to fifth again.
A few days before the Guangzhou championships, she returned to the top three and reached a career best second thanks to the triumph.
Four other Thai women are in the top 20 _ Sapsiree Taerattanachai (15), Nichaon Jindapon (16), Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (17) and Busanan Ongbumrungpan (18).
In the men's rankings, Boonsak Ponsana remains third.
Ratchanok yesterday got one million baht from Thaicom Foundation and 100,000 baht from the Royal Thai Police for winning the world title.
Her manager Kamala Thongkorn said that Ratchanok will skip the Thailand Championships later this month because she has been too busy since her victory in Guangzhou.
China denies air-con switch-off
Chinese organisers have denied switching off the air-cooling system during the men's singles final at the world championships after complaints that a sudden change in conditions may have influenced the match's outcome, the sport's governing body said yesterday.
The stadium air-conditioning "was not turned off at any time during the finals", a Badminton World Federation (BWF) statement said, contradicting witness reports that the cooler went off during Sunday's men's world title match and came back on afterwards.
An AFP reporter said the air-conditioner, which had been bothering players on one side of the net by blowing their shuttlecocks off-course, went off at the start of the second game, when China's Lin Dan switched to the drafty end when trailing 1-0 down.
Lin, the defending champion, won the second game and as temperatures soared his opponent, Malaysia's world No.1 Lee Chong Wei, broke down with cramp in the decider and was stretchered off when facing match point.
"A defeat is a defeat. I can accept it but I cannot tolerate the organisers switching off the air conditioner in the second game," Lee's coach Tey Seu Bock told Malaysian newspaper The Star earlier this week.
"It was so hot inside and Chong Wei was dehydrated. This led to him suffering cramps."
The BWF pledged to investigate the incident. However, a statement sent to AFP on Thursday said the air conditioning at Guangzhou's Tianhe Gymnasium was not turned off, but was simply set too low.
"The local organising committee has confirmed to the BWF that the air conditioner in the venue was not turned off at any time during the finals, but that the air conditioner was set on low from the beginning of the day," the statement said. BANGKOK POST/AFP