Thai Badminton: Loss to China at World Championships

In the early morning of September 1, the world’s number 1 of Chinese tennis Shi Yuqi made a spectacular return to defeat Kunlavut Vitidsarn and win the male simple championship for the first time.

After an exciting match of an hour and 17 minutes, Shi beaten up just 19-21, 21-10, 21-18. It was a new, bitter defeat for Kunlavut in the French capital, which had to be satisfied with the silver medal once again, repeating the result of the Paris 2024 Olympic final, disputed in the same place a year ago.

Although he was led during most of the first set, Kunlavut turned strongly in the final stages to win 21-19.

However, Shi Yuqi quickly reacted by winning the second set with an overwhelming victory on the scoring of 21-10, forcing the match to turn into a decisive game.

In the last set, the two players have fought a fierce struggle. Shi took the advantage 17-10 at one point, but Kunlavut has constantly reduced the gap to 19-18.

Finally, when Kunlavut struck the steering wheel on the decisive point, Shi sealed the 21-18 victory and collapsed on the short in tears. He explained that it was “a pure relief to have won this match”.

“I played six games in this tournament, and each match was extremely difficult. I almost lost several, but I managed to reverse the situation. Winning the final is therefore a great award, ”shared Shi.

In simple female, the Japanese Akane Yamaguchi, fifth seeded, easily beat the Chinese Chen Yufei 21-9, 21-13 in just 37 minutes to win her third world title, after those of 2021 and 2022.