Thai badminton star Ratchanok Intanon, who completed an unprecedented hat-trick of Superseries titles on Sunday, is now officially the top-ranked women's singles player in world.
The 21-year-old rose from second place to the No.1 spot as the Badminton World Federation updated its rankings on Thursday.
It is the first time for the 2013 world champion to claim the top spot, largely due to her splendid wins over the past three weeks at the India Open, Malaysia Open and Singapore Open -- all Superseries events.
Ratchanok is also the first Thai player to claim the world's No.1 ranking.
"It is an official rank now on 21-04-2016," she said in a message on her Instagram account.
"Thank for all the support. I will be always committed and develop myself at my best."
Her handler Kamala Thongkorn said that being the top-ranked player in the world was always the target for Ratchanok and her staff.
However, it was not mentioned in public to avoid putting pressure on the player, added Kamala.
She felt that Ratchanok should have risen to the top a few years ago but was restricted to second spot despite winning the world title in 2013.
"She had a good chance at that time but unfortunately, her performance suffered from a spate of injuries," Kamala said.
Ratchanok will be in action next week when she will defend her title at the Asian Championships in Wuhan, China.
She is at least likely to hold on to the No.1 ranking for at least two more weeks.
"How long she will be the world No.1 depends on the result at next week's tournament in China. So, at least two weeks," Kamala said.
"After that, it can change because Ratchanok is only 478 points ahead of second-ranked Carolina Marin [of Spain]."
Kamala said since winning the title in Singapore, Ratchanok has hardly been able to find time to rest as more sponsors keep approaching her.
As for Ratchanok's Chinese coach Xie Zhuhua, who is seeking Thai citizenship, Kamala said he had applied for it about five years ago, but there hasn't been any progress.
Kamala hoped with help from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha the coach may succeed this time.
"We are seeking this so that the coach can conveniently accompany our players when they travel abroad," she said.
"At present, getting him visas for different countries is really difficult."
Meanwhile, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk made it into the quarter-finals of the China Masters.
The world No.18 yesterday beat Shen Yaying of China 21-16, 21-19 to face either PV Sindhu of India or Chien Hui Yu of Taiwan in her next match.
Porntip is trying to reach the world's top 16 and qualify for this year's Olympics.
World No.21 Busanan Ongbumrungpan also cruised to the quarter-finals with a 21-17, 21-14 win over Gao Fangjie of China.
She next faces Sun Yu of China who lost to Ratchanok in the Singapore Open final.