Thai badminton sensation Ratchanok Inthanon played an exhibition match against Bangkok’s 60-year-old police chief Lt. Gen. Kamronwit Toopkracha on Wednesday. The police chief put up a brave performance, and his cause was helped by the fact that he had recruited Thai international player Grithtin Kridtanukoon to help him in the doubles game against the newly crowned world champion, who was assigned Lt. Gen. Kamronwit’s deputy as her partner.
“This is my way of providing some support,” Lt. Gen. Kamronwit said before the face-off began.
Lt. Gen. Kamronwit’s enthusiasm was clearly visible but he made a poor start to the game, hitting several shots into the net.
The police chief, dressed in a natty blue top, found his footing in the second set, however, combining neatly with Grithtin to force Ms Ratchanok’s partner, deputy metropolitan police chief Maj. Gen. Ittipol Piriyapinyo, to clatter into one of the net support posts.
In the third set, though, Ms. Ratchanok and Maj. Gen. Ittipol Piriyapinyo began to pull ahead, as the world champion sent a series of smashes ricocheting through Lt. Gen. Kamronwit’s legs.
Overall, Lt. Gen. Kamronwit said he was satisfied with his performance. “It was very enjoyable and I learned a lot from playing a world-class player,” he said. “I discovered that after all these years I’ve been holding the racket wrongly and putting my feet in the wrong place.”
“But I’m just a temple-fair player,” he said.
Ms. Ratchanok, meanwhile, said she was grateful for the police chief’s support. “I’ll do my best to retain my title and win a gold medal at the Olympics” she said.
Ms. Ratchanok did turn down one offer from the police chief: The post of officer on the force.
“I’ll think about that later, after graduating college,” she said.
The police chief’s team lost 2 sets to 1, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Highlights of the police chief’s 15 minutes of fame against Ratchanok.
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”18580″,”attributes”:{“alt”:”Highlights Badminton Star vs Police Chief”,”class”:”media-image”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”}}]]
