Thai Kunlavut Vitidsarn and South Korean An Se-young make history at Badminton World Championships
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COPENHAGEN – Kunlavut Vitidsarn became the first Thai player to be crowned men’s singles world champion at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships, after overcoming Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 in the final on Sunday.
In a battle of 22-year-olds, world No. 4 Naraoka won the first game at Copenhagen’s Royal Arena, but the third-ranked Kunlavut mounted a comeback which his opponent had no answer to.
Kunlavut reeled off 10 points in a row in the final game, which seemingly took the fight out of Naraoka. While trailing 15-5, the Japanese player’s demeanour prompted the umpire to tell him to “give his best effort”.
Not that it bothered the Thai, who went on to seal a historic title.
Expressing delight to win the match after battling for 1hr 49min, Kunlavut said he won because he “was able to control his mentality”.
“I won’t be celebrating. The match was very long, so I just want to go home and find some good food,” he said, before half-jokingly offering an apology to the crowd for the long match.
Kunlavut, a former three-time world junior champion, had also reached the 2022 final where he lost to Danish world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, who was knocked out by H.S. Prannoy in last Friday’s quarter-finals. The Indian had eliminated Singapore’s former world champion Loh Kean Yew in the last 16.
Earlier, world No. 1 An Se-young also became the first South Korean to win the women’s singles gold at the world championships after she beat three-time former champion Carolina Marin 21-12, 21-10.
An, the 21-year-old top seed, rounded off a perfect tournament by beating two Olympic champions en route to the title.
She had knocked out Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Chen Yufei in straight games in the semi-finals on Saturday.
“I’m so happy to win the match today. I enjoyed playing,” said An, who had also won seven other titles on the 2023 BWF World Tour.
Marin, the 2016 Olympic champion, is on the comeback trail after an anterior cruciate ligament injury. But the 30-year-old Spaniard was no match for An, who wrapped up the contest in 42 minutes, winning the last 11 points in a row.
There was more South Korean joy, as fifth seeds Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung beat China’s top seeds and defending champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-17, 10-21, 21-18 to become the first mixed doubles world champions from their country in 20 years.
Seo then partnered Kang Min-hyuk to win the men’s doubles final for his second title. The sixth-ranked duo beat Denmark’s 11th-ranked Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen 14-21, 21-15, 21-17.
In the women’s doubles final, top-ranked pair Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen won China’s sole 2023 world title by defeating Indonesia’s 12th-ranked Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Ramadhanti 21-16, 21-12 for their fourth world crown and their third in a row. REUTERS, XINHUA
