Kunlavut Vitidsarn

Kunlavut was born in Chonburi. He has a younger sister, Sarunrak,^[18] who is also a badminton player and won the bronze medal at the 2024 BWF World Junior Championships.

On 26 September 2025, Kunlavut promoted to the rank of police sub-lieutenant.^[19]

Kunlavut 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,^[20][21] and also the Junior Grand Prix title in Jaya Raya (Indonesia) and India in 2017.^[22][23] In the same year, he won the bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championships.^[24] He followed up his impressive showing in the World Junior Championships with a gold medal win.^[7]

In 2018, Kunlavut won three Junior Grand Prix title in the Netherlands, Germany, and Indonesia.^[25][26][27] He managed to defend his title in the Banthongyord Junior International and double the title by winning the mixed doubles with Phittayaporn Chaiwan.^[28] He then upgraded his medal in the Asian Junior Championships to silver, losing the finals to Lakshya Sen.^[29] 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, Kunlavut 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.^[30][31]

In his final year in the junior circuit in 2019, Kunlavut managed to win double title and defend his boys' singles and mixed doubles title in the Banthongyord Junior International.^[32] 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][33] Kunlavut 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,^[34] Polish Open,^[35] Finnish Open,^[36] and Spanish International.^[37]

Kunlavut began the 2020 season as semi-finalist in the Thailand Masters.^[38] He then entered the finals of the Spain Masters losing to Viktor Axelsen.^[39] In his debut at the All England Open, he was stopped in the first round to Lin Dan in rubber games.^[40] 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.^[41] His best result in 2021 was being one of the finalists in the Swiss Open and in the Indonesia badminton festival the World Tour Finals, where he was defeated by Axelsen.^[42][43]

In 2022, Kunlavut won his first title of the year in the German Open.^[44] At the 2021 SEA Games, he won two gold medals in both the singles and team events.^[16][45] Competed as the seed 16, Kunlavut claimed the silver medal in the World Championships, where in the finals he lost to Axelesen in straight game.^[15]

A good start in the 2023 season was shown by Kunlavut 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.^[46] He then beat the current world number 1 Viktor Axelsen to claim his first title of the year in the India Open.^[47] He then became the fourth Thai men's singles player to win the home soil title, the Thailand Open in early June.^[48] In the following week, he suffered an injury during the semi-finals in the Singapore Open against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.^[49] In July, he finished runner-up in the U.S. Open.^[50] Kunlavut'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.^[51] 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][51] Kunlavut competed in the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, but failed to win medal both in the team and individual event.^[52] He qualified to compete at the World Tour Finals as the World Champions,^[53] but was eliminated in the group stage.^[54] He closed the year as world number 7.

Kunlavut 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.^[55] He was ultimately bested by Denmark's Viktor Axelsen in the gold medal match.^[56] 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.^[57]

A good start shown by Kunlavut in the beginning of the 2025 BWF World Tour, when he reached the quarter-finals at the Malaysia Open.^[58] Despite an early loss at the India Open,^[59] he went on to win the Indonesia Masters.^[60] In April, Kunlavut 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.^[61] Kunlavut solidify his form by winning his home tournament, Thailand Open in his favoured three games match against Anders Antonsen.^[62] In June, Kunlavut won the Singapore Open in dominating fashion against Lu Guangzu.^[63] 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][64] Later in the year, Kunlavut lost in the final of Arctic Open to Chou Tien-chen.^[65]

Kunlavut started the season by winning the Malaysia Open in straight games against Shi Yuqi who had to retired due to the right shoulder injury. He became the first Thai player to win the Malaysia Open in 68 years.^[66] In April, Kunlavut was on a mission to defend his Asian Championship but lost out to Ayush Shetty in three games.^[67]

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]

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]
2025	Adidas Arena, Paris, France	Shi Yuqi	21–19, 10–21, 18–21	Silver	[68]

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]
2026	Ningbo Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Ningbo, China	Ayush Shetty	21–10, 19–21, 17–21	Bronze	[67]

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]

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]

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	[24]
2018	Jaya Raya Sports Hall Training Center, Jakarta, Indonesia	Lakshya Sen	19–21, 18–21	Silver	[29]
2019	Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Suzhou, China	Liu Liang	21–14, 21–13	Gold	[12][33]

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[69] 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.^[70]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2020	Spain Masters	Super 300	Viktor Axelsen	16–21, 13–21	Runner-up	[39]
2021	Swiss Open	Super 300	Viktor Axelsen	16–21, 6–21	Runner-up	[42]
2021	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Viktor Axelsen	12–21, 8–21	Runner-up	[43]
2022	German Open	Super 300	Lakshya Sen	21–18, 21–15	Winner	[44]
2023	India Open	Super 750	Viktor Axelsen	22–20, 10–21, 21–12	Winner	[47]
2023	Thailand Open	Super 500	Lee Cheuk Yiu	21–12, 21–10	Winner	[48]
2023	U.S. Open	Super 300	Li Shifeng	15–21, 18–21	Runner-up	[50]
2024	French Open	Super 750	Shi Yuqi	20–22, 19–21	Runner-up	[57]
2024	Korea Masters	Super 300	Wang Zhengxing	21–18, 21–18	Winner	[71]
2025	Indonesia Masters	Super 500	Jonatan Christie	18–21, 21–17, 21–18	Winner	[60]
2025	Thailand Open	Super 500	Anders Antonsen	21–16, 17–21, 21–9	Winner	[62]
2025	Singapore Open	Super 750	Lu Guangzu	21–6, 21–10	Winner	[63]
2025	Arctic Open	Super 500	Chou Tien-chen	11–21, 21–13, 19–21	Runner-up	[65]
2026	Malaysia Open	Super 1000	Shi Yuqi	23–21, 6–1 retired	Winner	[66]

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	India International	Lakshya Sen	15–21, 10–21	Runner-up	[30]
2018	Nepal International	Soo Teck Zhi	20–22, 22–20, 21–9	Winner	[31]
2019	Iran Fajr International	Li Shifeng	21–18, 21–17	Winner	[34]
2019	Polish Open	Lakshya Sen	21–17, 21–14	Winner	[35]
2019	Finnish Open	Lin Chun-yi	21–16, 18–21, 21–14	Winner	[36]
2019	Spanish International	Toby Penty	21–14, 21–14	Winner	[37]
2019	Mongolia International	Kodai Naraoka	21–9, 17–21, 21–23	Runner-up	[72]

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

  BWF Future Series tournament

Boys' singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2017	Banthongyord Junior International	Fong Hau Sim	21–14, 21–13	Winner	[20]
2017	Jaya Raya Junior International	Ikhsan Rumbay	21–17, 21–7	Winner	[22]
2017	India Junior International	B. M. Rahul Bharadwaj	21–16, 21–11	Winner	[23]
2017	Singapore Youth International	Joel Koh	21–13, 21–13	Winner	[21]
2018	Dutch Junior International	Li Shifeng	21–18, 21–14	Winner	[25]
2018	German Junior International	Li Shifeng	21–15, 21–11	Winner	[26]
2018	Jaya Raya Junior International	Ikhsan Rumbay	21–14, 21–9	Winner	[27]
2018	Banthongyord Junior International	Jason Teh	21–16, 21–15	Winner	[28]
2019	Banthongyord Junior International	Bobby Setiabudi	21–16, 26–24	Winner	[32]

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	[23]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref
2018	Banthongyord Junior International	Phittayaporn Chaiwan	Hiroki Midorikawa Natsu Saito	23–21, 21–18	Winner	[28]
2019	Banthongyord Junior International	Phittayaporn Chaiwan	Di Zijian Li Yijing	21–11, 21–17	Winner	[32]

  BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament

  BWF Junior International Challenge tournament

  BWF Junior International Series tournament

  BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Key

• Junior level

• Senior level

• Junior level

• Senior level

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 20 January 2026.^[80]

Player Matches Won Lost Diff. Lin Dan 2 0 2 –2 Shi Yuqi 11 4 7 –3 Zhao Junpeng 2 2 0 +2 Chou Tien-chen 7 2 5 –3 Anders Antonsen 10 4 6 –2 Viktor Axelsen 9 1 8 –7 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 1 1 0 +1 Christo Popov 7 3 4 –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 Ayush Shetty 2 1 1 0 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 8 5 3 +2 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 2 1 1 0 Kento Momota 3 1 2 –1 Kodai Naraoka 14 9 5 +4 Lee Zii Jia 9 5 4 +1 Loh Kean Yew 10 8 2 +6 Heo Kwang-hee 2 1 1 0 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 4 2 2 0 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 1 0 1 –1