PETALING JAYA: Thailand’s 64-year wait for an individual badminton gold at the Asian Games finally ended through Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Former world champion Kunlavut proved he is still one of the best in the region after beating Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew 21-12, 21-16 in the men’s singles final at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Tuesday (Sept 29).
The victory also gave Thailand their first Asian Games gold in any individual badminton event.
It was an even sweeter achievement for Kunlavut, who had earlier helped Thailand win bronze in the men’s team event, ending a 16-year wait since they last achieved the same result at Guangzhou 2010.
For Kean Yew, the silver still marked a historic achievement as he became the first Singaporean shuttler to reach an Asian Games final.
In the men’s doubles, Indonesia’s Daniel Marthin-Leo Rolly brought the gold back to the country after coming from a game down to beat China’s Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in yesterday’s final.
The Indonesians lost the opening game but recovered strongly to win 19-21, 21-13, 21-13 and hand Indonesia their third gold medal of the Games.
For Daniel-Leo, the victory was even more satisfying as they had not beaten the Chinese pair for four years, with their last win coming at the Singapore Open.
“We kept to our game plan and communicated well. We are also thankful to the support team and the fans. Thankfully, everything went smoothly.
“The last time we beat them was at the Singapore Open, so that gave us extra motivation. If not now, then when?” said Daniel.
The win also saw Indonesia regain a title they had once dominated at the Asian Games.
The late Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan started the run at Guangzhou 2010 before Hendra won again with Mohd Ahsan at Incheon 2014.
Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya then kept the streak going at Jakarta-Palembang 2018 before India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty ended it at Hangzhou 2022.
