Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thai:กุลวุฒิ วิทิตศานต์; born 11 May 2001), simply known asView (Thai:วิว) is a Thaibadminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in men's singles. He is the current Asia men's singles champions as he won the gold medal at the2025 Asian Championships,[4][5] as well a silver medalist in the2024 Olympic Games.[6] He was also three-times World Junior champion, winning in2017,2018 and2019.[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 became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joiningRatchanok Intanon andChen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline.[11] He claimed the gold medal at theAsian Junior Championships in2019, where he previously won a silver in2018 and bronze in2017.[12] Kunlavut participated at the2018 Summer Youth Olympics, and was part of the team Omega took the silver medal in themixed team event.[13] He was named the 2020/2021 Eddy Choong Most Promising Player.[14]
In the senior category, Kunlavut won the silver medal at the2022 World Championships and, in the following year, the gold medal at the2023 World Championships.[15] He became the first Thai player to win the World Championships title in the men's singles category.[4] Kunlavut clinched the gold medal at the2021 SEA Games and2025 Asian Championships.[5][16] He reached a career high of world number 1 in May 2025.[17]
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,[19][20] and also the Junior Grand Prix title in Jaya Raya (Indonesia) and India in 2017.[21][22] In the same year, he won the bronze medal at theAsian Junior Championships.[23] He followed up his impressive showing in theWorld Junior Championships with a gold medal win.[7]
In 2018, Kunlavut won three Junior Grand Prix title in the Netherlands, Germany, and Indonesia.[24][25][26] He managed to defend his title in the Banthongyord Junior International and double the title by winning the mixed doubles withPhittayaporn Chaiwan.[27] He then upgraded his medal in theAsian Junior Championships to silver, losing the finals toLakshya Sen.[28] However, he managed to defend hisWorld Junior titles.[8] He competed in theSummer 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 theIndia International then won theNepal International.[29][30]
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.[31] He finally won a gold medal at theAsian Junior Championships, becoming the first ever Thai to win the boys' singles title, and addition a gold in the team event.[12][32] Kunlavut successfully defended hisWorld Junior Champions title for the third time,[9] became the first men's singles player to win three World Junior Championships titles, joiningRatchanok Intanon andChen Qingchen as a three-time winner of the World Junior title in the same discipline.[11] He also won four International Challenge title inIran Fajr International,[33]Polish Open,[34]Finnish Open,[35] andSpanish International.[36]
In 2022, Kunlavut won his first title of the year in theGerman Open.[43] At the2021 SEA Games, he won two gold medals in both the singles and team events.[16][44] Competed as the seed 16, Kunlavut claimed the silver medal in theWorld 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 theMalaysia Open losing the match toKodai Naraoka in a close rubber game lasting for an hour 53-minutes.[45] He then beat the current world number 1Viktor Axelsen to claim his first title of the year in theIndia Open.[46] He then became the fourth Thai men's singles player to win the home soil title, theThailand Open in early June.[47] In the following week, he suffered an injury during the semi-finals in theSingapore Open againstAnthony Sinisuka Ginting.[48] In July, he finished runner-up in theU.S. Open.[49] Kunlavut's finest hour in his career came at the2023 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.[50] His victory at the World Championships, making him Thailand's third gold medal winner during theWorld Championships since it was first held in 1977.[4][50] Kunlavut competed in theHangzhou 2022 Asian Games, but failed to win medal both in the team and individual event.[51] He qualified to compete at theWorld Tour Finals as the World Champions,[52] but was eliminated in the group stage.[53] He closed the year as world number 7.
Kunlavut achieved a significant milestone by winning a silver medal at theParis 2024 Olympics, after advancing to the final by defeating world number oneShi Yuqi of China.[54] He was ultimately bested by Denmark'sViktor Axelsen in the gold medal match.[55] 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 theFrench Open.[56]
2025: Asian Championships title and World Number 1
A good start shown by Kunlavut in the beginning of the 2025 BWF World Tour, when he reached the quarter-finals at theMalaysia Open.[57] Despite an early loss at theIndia Open,[58] he went on to win theIndonesia Masters.[59] In April, Kunlavut beatLu Guangzu in theAsian 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.[60] Kunlavut solidify his form by winning his home tournament,Thailand Open in his favoured three sets match againstAnders Antonsen.[61] In June, Kunlavut won theSingapore Open in dominating fashion against Lu Guangzu.[62] 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][63] Later in the year, Kunlavut lost in the final ofArctic Open toChou Tien-chen.[64]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[66] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by theBadminton 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.[67]
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018)."Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation.Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved15 January 2018.
Viktor Axelsen
Silver
Silver
Kodai Naraoka
Gold
Shi Yuqi
Loh Kean Yew
Leong Jun Hao
Christo Popov
Bronze
Lakshya Sen
Runner-up
Winner
Lee Cheuk Yiu
Jonatan Christie
Chou Tien-chen
Toby Penty
Pacharapol Nipornram
Rodion Alimov_ribbon.svg)
Commander (Third Class) of The Most AdmirableOrder of the Direkgunabhorn[78]
