BADMINTON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: NANJING – Thai star survives major scare at badminton World Champs

The 23-year-old appeared troubled by a right ankle or foot injury and called for her trainer as she stared defeat in the face. — Bernama

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NANJING: Ratchanok Intanon survived a major scare at badminton’s World Championships as the fourth seed battled back from the brink of a shock early exit on Tuesday.

The 2013 champion and one of the favourites in Nanjing looked set to go out to the unseeded Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, before recovering her poise to gleefully reach round three.

A lacklustre Ratchanok went down 21-16 in the first game and was trailing for much of the second, losing 19-16 at one stage.

The 23-year-old appeared troubled by a right ankle or foot injury and called for her trainer as she stared defeat in the face.

But the former world number one stormed back to squeeze through the second game 22-20 and then raced away in the decider 21-10 after a nervy 76 minutes of action.

World number one and top seed Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan begins her campaign later Tuesday against Wendy Chen of Australia. — AFP