There might be a brand new World No 1 in badminton as Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn confirmed his rise to the summit of males’s singles. After his semifinal win on the Singapore Open Tremendous 750 on Saturday, the reigning world champion may even change into the world No 1 when the BWF rankings are up to date on Tuesday. Vitidsarn overcame Lin Chun Yi in a close to one-hour conflict 21-11, 25-23 to arrange a rematch of the Asian Championships last in opposition to China’s Lu Guang Zu. Irrespecitve of the outcome on Sunday, he has earned sufficient factors to topple Shi Yu Qi, who was knocked out earlier within the week by Lu.
Vitidsarn continues to be the flagbearer for that sensible junior Class of 2018 that features Li Shi Feng, Kodai Naraoka and India’s Lakshya Sen. The Thailand pioneer has received Olympic Video games silver (dropping to Viktor Axelsen final yr in Paris), the World Championships gold & silver, the Asian Championships gold and now climbing to the highest of the world ladder.
The 4 males on the rostrum of the 2018 BWF World Junior Championships had been: Kunlavut Vitidsarn (gold), Kodai Naraoka (silver), Lakshya Sen and Li Shi Feng (bronze). Lakshya and Li Shi Feng performed the ultimate of the Youth Olympic Video games that yr, with the Indian successful silver. And on the Asian Championships, Lakshya received gold whereas Vitidsarn received silver.
Axelsen had good issues to say about Vitidsarn after their battle within the World Championships last in 2022. “Vitidsarn’s a terrific man, he’s robust mentally and bodily,” Axelsen mentioned after his run to gold in Tokyo. “I knew it could be a tricky sport. I’m proud of the way in which I responded to his gameplan within the second. He made it onerous for me and I stiffened up just a little bit, however I turned it round once more. He’s a cool man, on and off the courtroom. He’s 21, and we’ve already performed just a few matches in opposition to one another, and in addition in different finals. I believe there’s many good issues for him to return. Hopefully we are able to have many good matches in future.”
Vitidsarn isn’t any stranger to firsts. He received the Junior World Championships thrice, the primary male shuttler to take action in singles. And on the Asian Championships earlier this yr he turned the primary Thai males’s singles champion in 63 years. And having achieved a lot in his profession already, Vitidsarn set his sights on All England, the place he’s but to style success. “I’ve received the Asian Youth Championship earlier than, and to have the ability to win within the elite stage is basically very glad and really significant,” Vitidsarn had instructed BWF after his triumph in Ningbo. My subsequent objective is to win the All England. I’ve received the World Championships and received a silver medal within the Olympics, however I’ve completed early at a number of All Englands so I hope to enhance my performances on the All England Open subsequent yr.”
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