Thai defending champion Ratchanok Intanon suffered an early exit at Thursday's Badminton World Championships in Denmark after losing to Japanese Minatsu Mitani 2- 1 just before the quarter-finals of the women's singles.

Ratchanok had been struggling with her injuries before her arrival in Copenhagen, but she managed an easy win in the first game against Minatsu with 21-8.

The Japanese player fought back in the second and dragged the match to the third round with a 21-12. Although Ratchanok was in front at 16-13 in the third, it was unyielding Minatsu who closed the decisive game with a 21-18.

Minatsu will face fifth seed Ji Hyun Sung of South Korea on Friday in the quarter-finals.

Top seed Chinese Li Xuerui will meet Saina Nehwal of India in the quarter-finals after beating her teammate Han Li earlier on Thursday with a 2-0 win.

Meanwhile, second seed Wang Shixian, also from China, made it through with a victory against Thi Trang Wu from Vietnam. She will confront with 11th seed Sindhu P. V. who is also from India.

Third seed Wang Yihan of China however could not go through to the quarter-finals after being eliminated by ninth seed Carolina Marin of Spain with a surprising 21-9, 21-12.

Wang said she failed to play the way she had expected, adding that her unfavorable status was to blame for the loss.

Marin's next rival in the quarter-finals is Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei, who is the eighth seed of the event.

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