The current Thailand Open 2026 has seen Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran of Thailand come very close to a milestone in terms of rankings.

Winning this tournament will enable the pair to gain 98,300 points on their ranking, putting them only 750 points away from China’s highest-ranking mixed doubles pair of Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. They may even reach World No. 2 in the coming month, ending China's hold on the top two rankings.

China’s monopoly in the top two positions in mixed doubles rankings has remained the same from August 2024 up to now.

No other country has managed to break into the top two apart from China. That is why the achievement of the Thai pair, if they went on to do it, will be an important milestone for the sport.

The Thai pair had a strong start to 2026, playing the final of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026, where they had to withdraw due to injury. That performance had taken them to World No. 3 in the rankings.

On the other hand, the Chinese pair, Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, are still among the top in mixed doubles globally. The current World No. 2 had reached the semifinals of the Indonesia Masters in January.

However, the Thai duo could soon pose a threat to the Chinese pair.

Road ahead for Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran

The equation for Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran to become the first non-Chinese pair in the top two of the mixed-doubles ranking over the last two years is very simple. They need to lift the Thailand Open 2026.

However, the road ahead in the tournament will not be that easy for the Thai pair.

In the round of 32, they will face the Indonesian pair of Adnan Maulana and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil.

If they went on to beat them, they would face either of their fellow Thai pair of Supak Jomkoh and Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn or India's Rohan Kapoor and Gadde Ruthvika Shivani.

In the quarters, they can even face the fifth-seeded Taiwanese pair of Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan. The Taiwanese pair are the defending All England Open mixed doubles champions.

In the semi-finals, they might have to face another strong Thai pair of Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparatt.

However, the second-seeded Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje and the third-seeded TANG Chun Man and TSE Ying Suet will give them the toughest challenge, if any of them reach the finals.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Koushik Biswas