Kunlavut Vitidsarn (; simply known as View (); born 11 May 2001) is a Thai

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in men's singles. He is the current World and Asia men's singles champions as he won the gold medals at the 2023 World Championships and 2025 Asian Championships, as well a silver medalist in the

2024 Olympic Games The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. He was also three-times World Junior champion, winning in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. He is nicknamed the "Three-Game God" because his defensive style generally requires him to play three games long and likely to win in the end due to opponent's stamina loss. Vitidsarn became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joining

Ratchanok Intanon Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...

and Chen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline. He claimed the gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in

, where he previously won a silver in

and bronze in

. Vitidsarn participated at the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international multi-sport event, sports, cultural, and educational event held from 6 to 18 October 2018 ...

, and was part of the team Omega took the silver medal in the mixed team event. He was named the 2020/2021 Eddy Choong Most Promising Player. In the senior category, Vitidsarn won the silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and, in the following year, the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships. He became the first Thai player to win the World Championships title in the men's singles category. Vitidsarn clinched the gold medal at the

2021 SEA Games The 2021 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 31st Southeast Asian Games, 31st SEA Games or SEA Games 31, and also recognized as Viet Nam 2021, were the 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, the biennial regional multi-sport e ...

and 2025 Asian Championships. He reached a career high of world number 1 in May 2025.

Career

2016–2019: Asian Junior champion and thrice World Junior champions

Vitidsarn exhibited promising performances throughout his junior-level tournament. He won junior tournaments including the boys' singles title in the Banthongyord Junior International and Singapore Youth International, and also the Junior Grand Prix title in Jaya Raya (Indonesia) and India in 2017. In the same year, he won the bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championships. He followed up his impressive showing in the World Junior Championships with a gold medal win. In 2018, Vitidsarn won three Junior Grand Prix title in the Netherlands, Germany, and Indonesia. He managed to defend his title in the Banthongyord Junior International and double the title by winning the mixed doubles with Phittayaporn Chaiwan. He then upgraded his medal in the Asian Junior Championships to silver, losing the finals to

Lakshya Sen Lakshya Sen (born 16 August 2001) is an Indian badminton player. He's a former World Junior No. 1. Sen is a bronze medalist at the World Championships, a gold medalist at the Thomas Cup, a silver medalist at the Asian Games and a gold and si ...

. However, he managed to defend his World Junior titles. He competed in the

Summer Youth Olympics Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

in Argentina, managed to bring the silver medal in the mixed team event together with Omega team. Even though he is only 17 years old, Vitidsarn has been able to compete in senior tournaments, as proven by his achievement as he finished as finalists in the India International then won the Nepal International. In his final year in the junior circuit in 2019, Vitidsarn managed to win double title and defend his boys' singles and mixed doubles title in the Banthongyord Junior International. He finally won a gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships, becoming the first ever Thai to win the boys' singles title, and addition a gold in the team event. Vitidsarn successfully defended his World Junior Champions title for the third time, became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joining

and Chen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline. He also won four International Challenge title in Iran Fajr International, Polish Open, Finnish Open, and Spanish International.

2020–2022: World Championship silver medalist

Vitidsarn began the 2020 season as semi-finalist in the

Thailand Masters The Thailand Masters was a professional snooker tournament. Previously known as Asian Open and Thailand Open, it was a Snooker world rankings, ranking tournament from 1989/90 to 2001/02. An event called the ''Thailand Masters'' also formed part o ...

. He then entered the finals of the Spain Masters losing to

Viktor Axelsen Viktor Axelsen (born 4 January 1994) is a Danish badminton player. He is a two-time Badminton at the Summer Olympics, Olympic Champion, two-time BWF World Championships, World Champion, and four-time European Badminton Championships, European Cha ...

. In his debut at the All England Open, he was stopped in the first round to

Lin Dan Lin Dan (; born 14 October 1983) is a Chinese former professional badminton player. He is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, five-time World championship gold medalist, two-time World Cup champion, two-time Asian games gold medalist, four- ...

in rubber games. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, numerous tournaments on the 2020 BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled for later in the year. He played at the Super 1000

Yonex is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running. Its range of products manufactured and commercialized includes equipment for badminton and tennis ( rackets, s ...

and Toyota Thailand Open but was eliminated in the second round in both tournaments. His best result in 2021 was being finalists in the Swiss Open and in the Indonesia badminton festival the World Tour Finals, where he was defeated by Axelsen. In 2022, Vitidsarn won his first title of the year in the German Open. At the

, he won two gold medals in both the singles and team events. Competed as the seed 16, Vitidsarn claimed the silver medal in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, where in the finals he lost to Axelesen in straight game.

2023: World Championships title, world number 3

A good start in the 2023 season was shown by Vitidsarn by becoming semi-finalists in the Malaysia Open losing the match to

Kodai Naraoka is a Japanese badminton player affiliated with NTT East. Born in Aomori, he started playing badminton at the age of 5 with the influence of his father. He won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. In his junior career, Naraoka ha ...

in a close rubber game lasting for an hour 53-minutes. He then beat the current world number 1

to claim his first title of the year in the

India Open The India Open is an annual badminton event which has been held in India since 2008 and is a BWF World Tour Super 750 international badminton tournament. Its first three editions were designated as Grand Prix Gold events. In 2011, it was upgr ...

. He then became the fourth Thai men's singles player to win the home soil title, the Thailand Open in early June. In the following week, he suffered an injury during the semi-finals in the Singapore Open against

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (; born 20 October 1996) is an Indonesian badminton player. He first rose to senior prominence when he won the bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games, having won a 2014 Youth Olympic bronze in 2014. At the 2020 Olympics, ...

. In July, he finished runner-up in the U.S. Open. Vitidsarn's finest hour in his career came at the 2023 World Championships. In the final, he prevailed as he defeated Naraoka in a rubber game to win the gold medal, and achieved his highest BWF world ranking of third in the men's singles category. His victory at the World Championships, making him Thailand's third gold medal winner during the

since it was first held in 1977. Vitidsarn competed in the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, but failed to win medal both in the team and individual event. He qualified to compete at the World Tour Finals as the World Champions, but was eliminated in the group stage. He closed the year as world number 7.

2024: Olympic silver

Vitidsarn achieved a significant milestone by winning a silver medal at the

Paris 2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, after advancing to the final by defeating world number one

Shi Yuqi Shi Yuqi (; Mandarin pronunciation: ; born 28 February 1996) is a Chinese badminton player.Shi won his first Superseries title in the 2016 French Open. At the 2017 All England Open, he defeated 6-time champion Lin Dan to reach the final, and r ...

of China. He was ultimately bested by Denmark's

in the gold medal match. His silver medal made him the first Thai athlete to earn an olympic medal in badminton. In the BWF World Tour, his best results was being finalist in the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

2025: Asian Championships title and World Number 1

A good start shown by Vitidsarn in the beginning of the 2025 BWF World Tour, when he reached the quarter-finals at the Malaysia Open. Despite an early loss at the

, he went on to win the Indonesia Masters. In April, Vitidsarn beat

Lu Guangzu Lu Guangzu (; born on 19 October 1996) is a Chinese badminton player. He was a silver medalist in the 2025 Asian Championships. Lu was integrated to China winning team in the 2021 and 2023 Sudirman Cup, as well at the 2024 Thomas Cup. In 2018 ...

in the Asian Championships and become the first ever men's singles title winner from Thailand. He then reached a peak ranking of number 2 in the BWF World rankings released on 15 April 2025. Vitidsarn solidify his form by winning his home tournament, Thailand Open in his favoured three sets match against

Anders Antonsen Anders Antonsen (born 27 April 1997) is a Danish badminton player. He is a three-time World Championships medalist, two-time European Champion, and he has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the men’s singles discipline of BWF World Ranking. He ...

. In June, Vitidsarn won the Singapore Open in dominating fashion against Lu Guangzu. His excellent performance in Singapore Open shot himself up into the number one in men's singles ranking, thus becoming the first Thais ever to achieve such honour in the history.

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Men's singles''

BWF World Championships

''Men's singles''

Asian Championships

''Men's singles''

Southeast Asian Games

''Men's singles''

BWF World Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Boys' singles''

BWF World Tour (7 titles, 5 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...

(BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (5 titles, 2 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF Future Series The BWF Future Series is a grade 3 and level 3 tournaments part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and International Series (level 2), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

BWF Junior International (11 titles, 2 runners-up)

''Boys' singles'' ''Boys' doubles'' ''Mixed doubles'' : BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament : BWF Junior International Challenge tournament : BWF Junior International Series tournament : BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Performance timeline

National team

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Individual competitions

* ''Junior level'' * ''Senior level''

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 20 May 2025.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitidsarn, Kunlavut 2001 births Living people Kunlavut Vitidsarn Kunlavut Vitidsarn Badminton players at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics Badminton players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Kunlavut Vitidsarn Kunlavut Vitidsarn Badminton players at the 2022 Asian Games Kunlavut Vitidsarn Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games Kunlavut Vitidsarn SEA Games medalists in badminton World No. 1 badminton players Kunlavut Vitidsarn