Kunlavut achieved a historic feat for Thai badminton – Photo: BWF
The match between Shi Yuqi and Kunlavut was a dream badminton final, pitting the two players against each other for the top two places in the men’s singles world rankings. And the Thai player finally made history.
The first set was incredibly tense and ended with Kunlavut winning 23-21. In the second set, Kunlavut took an early lead, before Shi decided to give up when they were down 1-6.
The highly anticipated final ended quite quickly, but that doesn’t take away from Kunlavut’s victory.
This is the first time in his career that Kunlavut has won a Super 1000 tournament. Since 2023, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) has decided to promote the Malaysia Open and include it in the group of four Super 1000 tournaments.
In badminton, Super 1000 tournaments are, in terms of prestige, comparable to the Grand Slam system in tennis.
Since the reform of the BWF in 2017, no Thai men’s singles player has won a Super 1000 tournament. Kunlavut is the first to achieve this feat.
It is worth noting that the 24-year-old Thai player reached the rank of world number 1 in mid-2025, before ceding this position to Shi Yuqi.
Kunlavut was a world champion in 2023, a silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics and had previously won seven BWF titles. But only now has he managed to win in a Super 1000 series.
Source : https://tuoitre.vn/cau-long-thai-lan-dat-chien-tich-dang-nguong-mo-2026011117183627.htm
