Thailand's badminton 'superwoman' sets sights on Olympics

Ratchanok Intanon set her sights on Olympic glory after becoming world number one -- and said she would be seen as "superwoman" if she wins Thailand's first ever badminton medal in Rio.

The 21-year-old, who won the Singapore Open to reach the women's singles top ranking for the first time, said a medal of any colour would be a triumph at the Games in August.

"My target is gold medal at the Olympic Games... But I think that getting a medal would be like (becoming) superwoman," she said on Monday at Singapore's Changi Aiport before boarding a flight home.
Ratchanok beat defending champion Sun Yu of China in three sets on Sunday to seal her third successive Superseries title in as many weeks, after triumphs in India and Malaysia.

Ratchanok, who became badminton's youngest ever world champion in 2013, will displace Spain's Carolina Marin as number one when the rankings are updated on Thursday.
"I didn't think about winning three (tournaments) in a row, I just wanted to try my best and if I could do it, I would just do it," she said.
"I feel the same now that I am world number one. There's still room for improvement and I want to be stronger. I don't want to think of the top ranking, but rather that I have more to learn."
Olympic success would mean redemption for Ratchanok, who was heartbroken after she was eliminated in the London 2012 quarter-finals.
"After I lost, I felt bad and I couldn't sleep. I've never felt that way before," she said.
"I wanted to close my eyes but I could not stop thinking about the loss."
Ratchanok added: "I don't want to pressure myself but I think I have a chance to get an Olympic medal for Thailand.
"Now that I have become world number one, I have reached the dream. I have completed one step but I still have one more step."
- Dessert factory -
The soft-spoken Thai, who started this month ranked fifth in the world, said her body is starting to feel the strain from playing consecutive competitions.
"When I woke up, I felt like my legs were weaker," said the native of Thailand's Yasothon province.

"I may be tired but if I can make people in Thailand smile and be happy, that's okay."
Despite her fatigue, Ratchanok will be competing at the Badminton Asia Championship in Wuhan, China next week where she aims to defend her title.
"I think now there will be a bit more pressure because I will have to protect my ranking. But I will take it one step at a time," she said.
Ratchanok picked up the sport at an early age, when she used to play in the grounds of the Bangkok dessert factory where her parents worked.
"I didn't enjoy badminton at first. I just did training but didn't feel that I wanted to be athlete. I just trained not to disturb my parents while they were working," she said.
"Now, I enjoy it because it is my career. I don't have to bother my parents for money and I can support them financially."
Following her success in the sport, Ratchanok said she now hopes she can inspire more and more young Thais to pick up a racquet.
"I am very proud to be the idol for young people in Thailand, that more parents are sending their children to play badminton," she said.

Badminton association says another player visited casino

An additional Japan national team player has admitted to entering an illegal casino, the Nippon Badminton Association revealed Monday.
The association is investigating illegal gambling on the national team after world No. 2 Kento Momota was found to have frequented casinos, which are barred in Japan.
Momota has received an indefinite suspension, barring him from participating in this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The additional player — whose name has been withheld — notified the association that he twice entered a casino last year in February and March, but said he did not wager.
The association investigated 106 players and staff with the national team since 2014 to ascertain whether they went to casinos.
“Considering his status as a national team member, the player cannot be exempt from some kind of discipline,” said Kinji Zeniya, the association’s chief executive.
The association intends to decide on the player’s punishment on Tuesday, while the board of directors will decide whether or not to make the player’s name public. Kenichi Tago, who invited Momota and others of his NTT East team to the illegal gambling establishments, also invited this player, who belongs to a different club.

The player said in a hearing that he attended twice but left after about 20 minutes, while asserting he did not gamble.
Tago, who lost huge sums of money at casinos also received an indefinite suspension from the association, his name was stricken from the association’s registry and he lost his job at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp. Momota was suspended from work for 30 days. The other players received playing bans ranging from six months to a year.

It’s ALL MENTAL, says Pattapol Ratchanok’s Coach New Focus helps her to bigger heights

Ratchanok Inatnon’s coach Pattapol Ngensrisuk said focus on mental aspects of her game was the key that propelled the Thai badminton queen to a Super Series hattrick as she returned home yesterday amidst huge media attention and rapturous welcome.

The Banthongyord Badminton School's coach, who arrived alongside the country's sweetheart on a flight from Singapore where she won a his¬toric third consecutive Super Series title in three weeks, said Ratchanok worked on her mental approach.

"To be a top player, you have to be consistent. In the past May [her nickname] had many ups and downs, sometimes playing so well but mostly poorly. So we sat and talked and came up with three areas that she needed to fix which were fitness, skills and most importantly mental side of her game," said Pattarapol.

"While she could improve her physical condition and the skills which she's already had to some extent, it was the mental aspect she needed to emphasise on. So before the Indian Open, she started working on that," added Pattapol.

More determined and more focused, the 21yearold Ratchanok showed signs of significant improvement when she easily beat archrival Li Xuerui of China 2117 2118 for the Indian Open title, followed by easy wins over Taiwanese Tai Tzu Ying in the Malaysian Open and on Sunday over China's Sun Yu in Singapore to mark herself as the first player, men or women, in the history to win three straight Super Series crowns. She is also expected to rise to No 1 in the world on Thursday.

With a week ahead of the Asian Championships where Ratchanok has to defend her title, the coach said training programme of Ratchanok has to be trimmed down to allow her body to recover.

"From what I observed during Singapore Open, her footwork began to slow down obviously from playing 15 matches in three weeks not because she was not fit. Her training sessions will be cut to two a day instead of three like usual," added the coach.

Ratchanok, meanwhile, was bombarded with questions by a horde of media upon her arrival at the Don Muang Airport on Monday morning with her family and Badminton Association of Thailand president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul welcoming her entourage. The current world No 2 said she was fatigued after reaching three finals in three weeks but still confident she would recover in time for the Asian Championships.

"It will be tough from the quarterfinals onwards but if can maintain my level of play there shouldn't be any problem. My goal is still to defend the title and remain as one of the top four seeds in the Olympics from where I want to bring a medal home," added Ratchanok, who was presented bou¬quets from Princess Bajra Kitiyabha and Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana through a royal representative.

She added her romance with bad¬minton player Pannawit Thongnuam has partially motivated her in putting maximum efforts but also paid tribute to the support from fans and close people that has significantly boosted her morale.

"Thanks to the fans who always support me no matter I win or lose," said the badminton star.

Asked if the sacred amulet of Lord Ganesh she was wearing around her neck (given by her benefactor Kamala Thongkorn) over the past three weeks has helped her to win, she said: "Somehow the amulet helped intimidate my opponents. I worship Ganesh, who I believe helps my movement. If you don't believe it, don't disrespect it. Don't bash it, until or unless you've tried it.

Ratchanok will call on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha at the Government House tomorrow afternoon.

New pictures surface in Kento Momota scandal

Tokyo: Japanese media has heightened interest in Japanese badminton ace Kento Momota’s private life after intimate pictures of him and an unidentified woman were leaked and went viral on internet sites.

Although Momota has received an indefinite suspension from Nippon Badminton Association (NBA), adding salt to Momota's wound, who has already been prevented from participating in this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Japanese media has released the second wave of leaked pictures that showed Momota having a great time with other women in a Karaoke entertainment center

Momota's high school coach Taku Ohori (Aya Ohori's father) told the media that he hoped Momota could take some time off to rethink his life and future. Momota's elementary school badminton coach Takashi Yoshikawa also suggested Momota should look forward, he could still represent Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team.

A waitress who worked near the illegal casino, told Fuji TV station on April 14 that Momota would spend 30,000 Yen ($275 USD) to 40,000 Yen ($367 USD) on a night out and he likes to find cute looking women to accompany him the whole night. Momota would then gradually get drunk and then start kissing his female companion.
Kento Momota has reportedly gambled at the illegal casinos about six times from October 2014 to January 2015 while his teammate and six-time Japan champion Kenichi Tago was a more frequent gambler, losing about 10 million yen in about 60 trips to gambling establishment from October 2014 to January this year.

Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen win European Male Player of the Year and set to return at Indonesia Open

Slovenia: Europe's best badminton players gathered at the 4th BEC Awards Gala, which took place in Podcetrtek, Slovenia on Saturday to witness the annual awards ceremony in recognition to the achievements and the contribution made by European badminton players in 2015

The BEC Best Male Player of the Year 2015 title was awarded to Danish men's doubles pair Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, who won the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships in March last year by defeating Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov of Russia. The Denmark pair also claimed the prestigious All England title and the men's doubles gold at the 2015 Baku European Games.

When informing the fans about winning the 2015 BEC Best Male Player of the Year award, Mathias Boe also hinted he and his partner - Carsten Mogensen who is still recovering from the life-threatening ruptured aortic aneurysms in his brain, are returning to competition. The pair is expected to take part in this year's Indonesia Open that will take place in Jakarta from May 30 to June 5.
Below was what Mathias Boe has posted on his social media site:
"We have been selected as male players of 2015 by Badminton Europe. It´s the second time we have won this award, and it´s of course something we are extremely proud of. Thank you to everybody that voted for us and to Badminton Europe:-).
Practice is going well, and we actually plan to be back on court at Indonesia Open in about 7 weeks,"
The Best Female Player of the Year award was given to Spain's Carolina Marin, who won six titles in 2015. Marin was also the only European to win a consecutive women's singles World Championships title.
In addition, Carolina Marin's coach - Fernando Rivas, also took home the Coach of the Year Award.
Denmark's legendary Morten Frost who is currently serving as the Technical Director of Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), was officially inducted as the new Badminton Europe Hall of Fame. Frost was regarded as of the four kings of badminton in the 80's together with Yang Yang, Zhan Jianhua, and Icuk Sugiarto. He was the most dominant forces in European men's badminton during his era and had won four All England singles titles as well as many other championships.

 The Best Young Player of the Year 2015 award went to Denmark's Anders Antonsen, while Ernest Robinson of France was selected as BEC Technical Official of the Year

This robot may beat you in badminton

To solve this problem, scientists in Chengdu City, China has created a robot that can make it trickier for you to hit your smashes because the badminton robot is able to make some extremely impressive defensive returns.

According to its creators, the badminton robot has an 80% success rate in returning a shot.
To make the robot even more fascinating, it can be adjusted for playing singles or doubles matches.
Badminton fans can find out whether the robot is as good as advertised, or whether it sounds too good to be true when it goes on sale in few weeks

Sony pulls a surprise win over Lin Dan in Singapore Open

Indonesian shuttler Sony Dwi Kuncoro rolled back the years to storm into the Singapore Open final.
The 31-year-old Sony, who has been out of the Indonesian national team, stunned world No. 4 Lin Dan 21-10, 17-21, 22-20 in the semi-finals at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
It is an impressive win for Sony, the former world No. 4, as he couldn’t even get into the main draw of the Malaysian Open last week.

 Sony, world No. 56 now, will be hunting for his second Singapore title since 2010 when he takes on South Korean Son Wan-ho in the final.
World No. 10 Wan-ho dumped Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long 22-20, 21-16 in the other semi-final.
In men’s doubles, China’s Fu Haifeng-Zhang Nan checked into the final after beating world No. 1 Lee Yong-dae-Yoo Yeon-seong of South Korea 21-16, 23-21.
The world No. 4, who were runners-up in Singapore last year, will take on Japan’s unseeded pair of Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda for the title.
In women’s singles, Thai ace Ratchanok Intanon stayed on track for a hat-trick of titles after powering past Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-12, 22-20.
Ratchanok, who won the Indian and Malaysian Opens, will be up against defending champion Sun Yu of China in the final.