
Amidst all the unpleasant news of the South, the reds, the police examination scam, and the unending double talk of charter amendments, it is kind of you to highlight this teenager’s achievement and mannerism in representing Thailand. People were praising Ratchanok Inthanon highly on Friday even though she did not win. This is the real spirit of Olympics.
As to the future, Ratchanok should opt to join Tsingtao Club in China instead of being domesticated in Thailand when she can hardly get much support from the Thailand Badminton Association and fewer better players than her in Thailand to compete against. In joining the club, she might have a chance to meet her nemesis, the world No 2 Wang Xin.
Many women volleyball players joined foreign clubs in Turkey, Switzerland, China, Azerbaijan to gain experience. Their performances for Thailand at the recent World Grand Prix, pre-qualification for Olympics, were so entertaining and competitive. Under pressure, they had no fear. They lost their slot to the Olympics because of Japanese gamesmanship. Japan did not play their best against Serbia to avoid stronger Olympic grouping similar to the motives of the eight Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian badminton players banned by the Badminton World Federation, (BWF). Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) had lesser courage in not banning Japan by giving the lame excuse of not having sufficient evidence against Japan for “match fixing”. BWF has put the FIVB to shame in not relying on any concrete evidence.
Songdej Praditsmanont
Bangkok