World badminton champion Ratchanok Intanon and Khunying Patama Leesawadtrakul have started to become household names in Thailand almost at the same time.
Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk became Thailand’s first men’s SEA Games champion for 38 years.
Elected unopposed as president of the Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT) in August, Patama began her involvement in the sport in 2010.
She was invited to be manager of the Thai squad for the Asian Games in Guangzhou following conflict between some players and the association.
It proved to be a good partnership as the Thai women won silver after losing to hosts China in the final and the men took bronze in the team event.
Ratchanok was a member of the women's team in Guangzhou.
At the 2012 Olympics, Patama again was manager of the badminton team and Ratchanok came close to becoming the first Thai to win an Olympic medal in the sport when she squandered a big lead to lose in the women's singles quarter-finals.
Shortly after becoming Thailand's badminton chief, replacing long-serving Charoen Wattanasin, Ratchanok became the youngest ever world champion.
At the 2013 SEA Games, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk was crowned Thailand's first men's champion for 38 years.
In one of only a few sports at the biennial event which has featured some world-class athletes, Tanongsak is only the fifth Thai man to have won the badminton title.
''Some people say I am a lucky person for badminton _ and I think that may be correct,'' Patama said.
''But the players have worked so hard to become successful. They all deserve credit for their success.''
Her predecessor Charoen joked that when Ratchanok won the world title, he was still acting BAT president.
''When Ratchanok won the world title, her presidency had not yet been approved,'' he said.
Charoen had a bigger smile than Patama on the day Tanongsak won gold in Nay Pyi Taw. He was invited to award the gold medal to Tanongsak after Patama returned home a day earlier.