PETALING JAYA: Can men’s singles shuttler Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand defend his world title?
Based on his current form, it is possible.
Kunlavut created history in the last edition of the world meet in 2023 in Copenhagen when he sensationally became the first Thai to capture the men’s singles gold after beating Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.
The 24-year-old has an opportunity to win it again at the meet from Aug 25-31 at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris.
And if he pulls it off, Kunlavut will join an illustrious list of players who have defended the men’s singles title, such as China’s Yang Yang (1987, 1989), Lin Dan (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011, 2013), Chen Long (2014, 2015) and Japan’s Kento Momota (2018, 2019).
Kunlavut believes that he is slowly evolving his game after struggling with consistency previously.
“This is an amazing season for me. I feel like trying everything. I must change my style and if it doesn’t work, it’s OK. If it works, just do it again,” said Kunlavut in an interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Now every player knows my style and I must change it a bit. This year it’s worked in every match. I just need to keep getting better.”
Kunlavut is already a trailblazer in his country after scoring several other firsts – becoming the first Thai to reach world No. 1 spot last month and first to win an Olympic medal in badminton when he claimed silver in the Paris Games last August.
He will be keen to enjoy another good outing in the world meet which will be held in the same venue as the Olympics.
He has been in superb form since April, winning the Asian Championships, Thailand Open and Singapore Open titles and reaching the semi-finals in the Indonesian Open and this bodes well for him ahead of the showpiece event in Paris.
