Kunlavut Vitidsarn

Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thai: กุลวุฒิ วิทิตศานต์; simply known as View (Thai: วิว); born 11 May 2001) is a Thai badminton 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,^[4][5] as well a silver medalist in the 2024 Olympic Games.^[6] He was also three-times World Junior champion, winning in 2017, 2018 and 2019.^[7][8][9] 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.^[10]

Kunlavut Vitidsarn
Vitidsarn in 2018
Personal information
Nickname(s)	View Three-Game God
Country	Thailand
Born	(2001-05-11) 11 May 2001 (age 24) Chonburi, Thailand[1]
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Weight	85 kg (187 lb)
Handedness	Right
Coach	Patapol Ngernsrisuk[3]
Men's singles
Career record	241 wins, 105 losses
Highest ranking	1 (3 June 2025)
Current ranking	3 (5 August 2025)
Medal record Men's badminton Representing  Thailand Olympic Games 2024 Paris Men's singles World Championships 2023 Copenhagen Men's singles 2022 Tokyo Men's singles Asian Championships 2025 Ningbo Men's singles World Junior Championships 2017 Yogyakarta Boys' singles 2018 Markham Boys' singles 2019 Kazan Boys' singles 2016 Bilbao Mixed team 2019 Kazan Mixed team Asian Junior Championships 2019 Suzhou Boys' singles 2019 Suzhou Mixed team 2018 Jakarta Boys' singles 2017 Jakarta Boys' singles SEA Games 2021 Vietnam Men's team 2021 Vietnam Men's singles Representing Mixed-NOCs Youth Olympic Games 2018 Buenos Aires Mixed team
BWF profile

Vitidsarn became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joining Ratchanok Intanon and Chen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline.^[11] He claimed the gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in 2019, where he previously won a silver in 2018 and bronze in 2017.^[12] Vitidsarn participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and was part of the team Omega took the silver medal in the mixed team event.^[13] He was named the 2020/2021 Eddy Choong Most Promising Player.^[14]

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.^[15] He became the first Thai player to win the World Championships title in the men's singles category.^[4] Vitidsarn clinched the gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games and 2025 Asian Championships.^[5][16] He reached a career high of world number 1 in May 2025.^[17]

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,^[18][19] and also the Junior Grand Prix title in Jaya Raya (Indonesia) and India in 2017.^[20][21] In the same year, he won the bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championships.^[22] He followed up his impressive showing in the World Junior Championships with a gold medal win.^[7]

In 2018, Vitidsarn won three Junior Grand Prix title in the Netherlands, Germany, and Indonesia.^[23][24][25] He managed to defend his title in the Banthongyord Junior International and double the title by winning the mixed doubles with Phittayaporn Chaiwan.^[26] He then upgraded his medal in the Asian Junior Championships to silver, losing the finals to Lakshya Sen.^[27] However, he managed to defend his World Junior titles.^[8] He competed in the Summer Youth Olympics in Argentina, managed to bring the silver medal in the mixed team event together with Omega team.^[13] 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.^[28][29]

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.^[30] 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.^[12][31] Vitidsarn successfully defended his World Junior Champions title for the third time,^[9] became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joining Ratchanok Intanon and Chen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline.^[11] He also won four International Challenge title in Iran Fajr International,^[32] Polish Open,^[33] Finnish Open,^[34] and Spanish International.^[35]

2020–2022: World Championship silver medalist

Vitidsarn began the 2020 season as semi-finalist in the Thailand Masters.^[36] He then entered the finals of the Spain Masters losing to Viktor Axelsen.^[37] In his debut at the All England Open, he was stopped in the first round to Lin Dan in rubber games.^[38] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 and Toyota Thailand Open but was eliminated in the second round in both tournaments.^[39] 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.^[40][41]

In 2022, Vitidsarn won his first title of the year in the German Open.^[42] At the 2021 SEA Games, he won two gold medals in both the singles and team events.^[16][43] Competed as the seed 16, Vitidsarn claimed the silver medal in the World Championships, where in the finals he lost to Axelesen in straight game.^[15]

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 in a close rubber game lasting for an hour 53-minutes.^[44] He then beat the current world number 1 Viktor Axelsen to claim his first title of the year in the India Open.^[45] He then became the fourth Thai men's singles player to win the home soil title, the Thailand Open in early June.^[46] In the following week, he suffered an injury during the semi-finals in the Singapore Open against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.^[47] In July, he finished runner-up in the U.S. Open.^[48] 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.^[49] His victory at the World Championships, making him Thailand's third gold medal winner during the World Championships since it was first held in 1977.^[4][49] Vitidsarn competed in the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, but failed to win medal both in the team and individual event.^[50] He qualified to compete at the World Tour Finals as the World Champions,^[51] but was eliminated in the group stage.^[52] 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, after advancing to the final by defeating world number one Shi Yuqi of China.^[53] He was ultimately bested by Denmark's Viktor Axelsen in the gold medal match.^[54] His silver medal made him the first Thai athlete to earn an olympic medal in badminton.^[6] In the BWF World Tour, his best results was being finalist in the French Open.^[55]

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.^[56] Despite an early loss at the India Open,^[57] he went on to win the Indonesia Masters.^[58] In April, Vitidsarn beat Lu Guangzu in the Asian Championships and become the first ever men's singles title winner from Thailand.^[5] He then reached a peak ranking of number 2 in the BWF World rankings released on 15 April 2025.^[59] Vitidsarn solidify his form by winning his home tournament, Thailand Open in his favoured three sets match against Anders Antonsen.^[60] In June, Vitidsarn won the Singapore Open in dominating fashion against Lu Guangzu.^[61] 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.^[17][62]

Achievements

Olympic Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2024	Porte de La Chapelle Arena, Paris, France	Viktor Axelsen	11–21, 11–21	Silver	[6]

BWF World Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2022	Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan	Viktor Axelsen	5–21, 16–21	Silver	[15]
2023	Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark	Kodai Naraoka	19–21, 21–18, 21–7	Gold	[4]

Asian Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2025	Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Ningbo, China	Lu Guangzu	21–12, 11–6 ret.	Gold	[5]

Southeast Asian Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2021	Bac Giang Gymnasium, Bắc Giang, Vietnam	Loh Kean Yew	21–13, 21–13	Gold	[16]

BWF World Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Among Rogo Sports Hall, Yogyakarta, Indonesia	Leong Jun Hao	17–21, 21–15, 21–9	Gold	[7]
2018	Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada	Kodai Naraoka	21–9, 21–11	Gold	[8]
2019	Kazan Gymnastics Center, Kazan, Russia	Christo Popov	21–8, 21–11	Gold	[9]

Asian Junior Championships

Boys' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Jaya Raya Sports Hall Training Center, Jakarta, Indonesia	Leong Jun Hao	21–19, 14–21, 21–23	Bronze	[22]
2018	Jaya Raya Sports Hall Training Center, Jakarta, Indonesia	Lakshya Sen	19–21, 18–21	Silver	[27]
2019	Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Suzhou, China	Liu Liang	21–14, 21–13	Gold	[12][31]

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

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[63] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (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.^[64]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2020	Spain Masters	Super 300	Viktor Axelsen	16–21, 13–21	Runner-up	[37]
2021	Swiss Open	Super 300	Viktor Axelsen	16–21, 6–21	Runner-up	[40]
2021	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Viktor Axelsen	12–21, 8–21	Runner-up	[41]
2022	German Open	Super 300	Lakshya Sen	21–18, 21–15	Winner	[42]
2023	India Open	Super 750	Viktor Axelsen	22–20, 10–21, 21–12	Winner	[45]
2023	Thailand Open	Super 500	Lee Cheuk Yiu	21–12, 21–10	Winner	[46]
2023	U.S. Open	Super 300	Li Shifeng	15–21, 18–21	Runner-up	[48]
2024	French Open	Super 750	Shi Yuqi	20–22, 19–21	Runner-up	[55]
2024	Korea Masters	Super 300	Wang Zhengxing	21–18, 21–18	Winner	[65]
2025	Indonesia Masters	Super 500	Jonatan Christie	18–21, 21–17, 21–18	Winner	[58]
2025	Thailand Open	Super 500	Anders Antonsen	21–16, 17–21, 21–9	Winner	[60]
2025	Singapore Open	Super 750	Lu Guangzu	21–6, 21–10	Winner	[61]

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

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	India International	Lakshya Sen	15–21, 10–21	Runner-up	[28]
2018	Nepal International	Soo Teck Zhi	20–22, 22–20, 21–9	Winner	[29]
2019	Iran Fajr International	Li Shifeng	21–18, 21–17	Winner	[32]
2019	Polish Open	Lakshya Sen	21–17, 21–14	Winner	[33]
2019	Finnish Open	Lin Chun-yi	21–16, 18–21, 21–14	Winner	[34]
2019	Spanish International	Toby Penty	21–14, 21–14	Winner	[35]
2019	Mongolia International	Kodai Naraoka	21–9, 17–21, 21–23	Runner-up	[66]

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

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

Boys' singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Banthongyord Junior International	Fong Hau Sim	21–14, 21–13	Winner	[18]
2017	Jaya Raya Junior International	Ikhsan Rumbay	21–17, 21–7	Winner	[20]
2017	India Junior International	B. M. Rahul Bharadwaj	21–16, 21–11	Winner	[21]
2017	Singapore Youth International	Joel Koh	21–13, 21–13	Winner	[19]
2018	Dutch Junior International	Li Shifeng	21–18, 21–14	Winner	[23]
2018	German Junior International	Li Shifeng	21–15, 21–11	Winner	[24]
2018	Jaya Raya Junior International	Ikhsan Rumbay	21–14, 21–9	Winner	[25]
2018	Banthongyord Junior International	Jason Teh	21–16, 21–15	Winner	[26]
2019	Banthongyord Junior International	Bobby Setiabudi	21–16, 26–24	Winner	[30]

Boys' doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2015	White Nights Junior International	Pacharapol Nipornram	Rodion Alimov Pavel Kotsarenko	21–14, 21–23, 13–21	Runner-up
2017	India Junior International	Pacharapol Nipornram	Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto Rinov Rivaldy	9–21, 13–21	Runner-up	[21]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	Banthongyord Junior International	Phittayaporn Chaiwan	Hiroki Midorikawa Natsu Saito	23–21, 21–18	Winner	[26]
2019	Banthongyord Junior International	Phittayaporn Chaiwan	Di Zijian Li Yijing	21–11, 21–17	Winner	[30]

  BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament

  BWF Junior International Challenge tournament

  BWF Junior International Series tournament

  BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

G

S

B

NH

N/A

DNQ

(W) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze medal; (NH) not held; (N/A) not applicable; (DNQ) did not qualify.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

National team

• Junior level

Team events	2017	2018	2019	Ref
Asian Junior Championships	QF	QF	G	[31]
World Junior Championships	7th	9th	B

• Senior level

Team events	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Ref
SEA Games	A	NH	A	NH	G	NH	A	NH		[43]
Asia Team Championships	NH	A	NH	QF	NH	A	NH	A	NH
Asia Mixed Team Championships	A		A	NH			A	NH	A
Asian Games	NH	A	NH			QR	NH
Thomas Cup	NH	RR	NH	QF	NH	RR	NH	RR	NH
Sudirman Cup	A	NH	A	NH	QF	NH	QF	NH	QF

Individual competitions

• Junior level

Events	2016	2017	2018	2019	Ref
Asian Junior Championships	A	B	S	G	[12][22][27][31][67]
World Junior Championships	4R	G	G	G	[7][8][9]

• Senior level

Events	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Ref
SEA Games	A	NH	A	NH	G	NH	A	NH		[16]
Asian Championships	A			NH		A	2R	QF	G	[5]
Asian Games	NH	A	NH			3R	NH			[50]
World Championships	DNQ			NH	1R	S	G	NH		[4][15]
Olympic Games	NH			DNQ	NH			S	NH	[6]

Tournament	BWF SS / GP			BWF World Tour								Best	Ref
	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Malaysia Open	A					NH		SF	SF	2R	QF	SF ('22, '23)	[44][56]
India Open	A					NH		A	W	2R	1R	W ('23)	[45][57][68]
Indonesia Masters	A		NH	A			QF	1R	A	SF	W	W ('25)	[58]
Thailand Masters	NH	A	2R	A	1R	SF	NH		A		w/d	SF ('20)	[36]
German Open	A					NH		W	1R	A		W ('22)	[42][69]
Orléans Masters	N/A			A	3R	NH	SF	A				SF ('21)
All England Open	A					1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	2R	2R ('22, '23, '24, '25)	[38]
Swiss Open	A					NH	F	A			QF	F ('21)	[40][70]
Spain Masters	N/A			A		F	A	NH	A		NH	F ('20)	[37]
Chinese Taipei Open	A				1R	NH		A				1R ('19)
Thailand Open	1R	A	3R	A		2R	NH	A	W	SF	W	W ('23, '25)	[39][46][71][60]
						2R
Malaysia Masters	A						NH	w/d	2R	w/d	A	2R ('23)
Singapore Open	A					NH		A	SF	A	W	W ('25)	[47][61]
Indonesia Open	A					NH	1R	1R	w/d	SF	SF	SF ('24, '25)
U.S. Open	A					NH			F	A		F ('23)	[48][72]
Canada Open	A					NH		A	1R	A		1R ('23)
Japan Open	A					NH		2R	QF	w/d	1R	QF ('23)
China Open	A					NH			w/d	SF	QF	SF ('24)
Macau Open	A				QF	NH				A		QF ('19)
Vietnam Open	A	2R	1R	A	2R	NH		A				2R ('16, '19)
Hong Kong Open	A					NH			w/d	A		–
China Masters	A					NH			2R	QF		QF ('24)
Korea Open	A				1R	NH		QF	A			QF ('22)
Arctic Open	N/A					NH			1R	SF		SF ('24)
Denmark Open	A						1R	1R	1R	1R		1R ('21, '22, '23, '24)
French Open	A					NH	1R	QF	QF	F		F ('24)	[73]
Hylo Open	A						QF	QF	A			QF ('21, '22)
Korea Masters	A				2R	NH		A		W		W ('24)	[65]
Japan Masters	N/A								w/d	2R		2R ('24)
Syed Modi International	A				QF	NH		A				QF ('18)
Superseries / Tour Finals	DNQ						F	DNQ	RR	RR		F ('21)	[41][52]
Year-end ranking	639	421	219	124	40	29	20	10	7	5		1	[17][59][49]
Tournament	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Best	Ref

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 20 May 2025.^[74]

Player Matches Won Lost Diff. Lin Dan 2 0 2 –2 Shi Yuqi 8 3 5 –2 Zhao Junpeng 2 2 0 +2 Chou Tien-chen 4 2 2 0 Anders Antonsen 8 2 6 –4 Viktor Axelsen 8 1 7 –6 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 1 1 0 +1 B. Sai Praneeth 1 1 0 +1 Srikanth Kidambi 5 4 1 +3 Parupalli Kashyap 2 2 0 +2 Prannoy H. S. 3 3 0 +3

Player Matches Won Lost Diff. Lakshya Sen 11 7 4 +3 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 8 5 3 +2 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 2 1 1 0 Kento Momota 3 1 2 –1 Kodai Naraoka 13 8 5 +3 Lee Zii Jia 9 5 4 +1 Loh Kean Yew 9 8 1 +7 Heo Kwang-hee 2 1 1 0 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 4 2 2 0 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 1 0 1 –1