▲ Pichamon immediately caught everyone’s attention on the court with his long straight hair, white and fair skin, and bright and attractive smile. Many fans evaluated him as the most prominent ‘visual person’ among the new generation of badminton players. On social media, likes and comments continued, and its popularity soared.
[스포티비뉴스=조용운 기자] Pichamon Opatnipus (19, world ranking 31st), who is starting to create a new wave in the badminton world, brought victory to his country.
Pichamon, representing Thailand, won 2-0 (21-3, 21-6) in 19 minutes against Myanmar’s Aint Chit Phu (477th) at the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships held in Qingdao, China on the 3rd.
Pichamon, who participated in his second solo exhibition, clearly proved why he is the star receiving the most attention. His overwhelming performance, in which he neutralized his opponent by scoring 12 consecutive points in the first set, shows that he has grown from being a promising player to a clear competitor on the adult stage.
Pichamon already began receiving worldwide attention last month. This is thanks to the historic record achieved at the Indonesia Masters in which Ahn Se-young did not participate. At the time, Pichamon defeated Letshana Karupatevan (37th, Thailand) to reach the finals, earning the title of youngest finalist in the history of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 level competition.
Pichamon, who succeeded in making a soft landing on the adult stage after winning the 2023 World Junior Championships, is shaking up the badminton world by defeating top ranked players one after another with sharp attacks and clever game management that come from his height of over 170cm.
▲ Pichamon immediately caught everyone’s attention on the court with his long straight hair, white and fair skin, and bright and attractive smile. Many fans evaluated him as the most prominent ‘visual person’ among the new generation of badminton players. On social media, likes and comments continued, and its popularity soared.
Although he finished second in the final, losing to 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and Ahn Se-young’s rival, Chen Yufei (3rd place, China), he showed great potential in pushing the veteran to the brink, including a close deuce match in the first game.
Even the Chinese media, which watched Chen Yu-fei’s final struggle to win, compared the time when Ahn Se-young unleashed her potential with the current Pichamon, and expressed mixed expectations that her growth will cause a tectonic shift in women’s singles in the future.
What is interesting is that the mentality is changing as much as the rapidly rising skills. Just a week ago, Ahn Se-young was chosen without hesitation as a future role model, drawing great attention from Korean fans, but in a recent interview, the mood has subtly changed. Pichamon mentioned Chen Yu-fei, who faced Taiwanese legend Tai Tzu-ying in the finals, as an idol he would like to emulate, and excluded Ahn Se-young’s name.
Pichamon, who is leaving a strong impression on domestic fans in many ways, has the possibility of meeting Ahn Se-young in this tournament. While Thailand won its first win in Group Y of the group stage by defeating Myanmar, Korea in Group Z also took its first step toward winning the championship by defeating Singapore. Korea won the first game cleanly even after giving Ahn Se-young a rest.
▲ Pichamon immediately caught everyone’s attention on the court with his long straight hair, white and fair skin, and bright and attractive smile. Many fans evaluated him as the most prominent ‘visual person’ among the new generation of badminton players. On social media, likes and comments continued, and its popularity soared.
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