Thailand’s No.1 world women's shuttler and defending champion Ratchanok Intanon was eliminated by a Japanese player in a second round match at the 2016 Badminton Asia Championship on Thursday in Wuhan, China.
Ratchanok won the first set against world No.14 Sayaka Sato 21-17, but lost the two later sets 16-21 and 17-21.
Ratchanok officially gained the world women's singles top ranking last week. Her loss at this tournament may push her back down to No. 2 spot.
The 21-year-old, who became women's badminton's youngest ever world singles champion in 2013, won three titles in India, Malaysia and Singapore to attain the top rank.