It was five years ago that Kunlavut Vitidsarn completed his hat-trick of men’s singles titles at the BWF World Junior Championships. Since then ‘View’ has become one of the world’s best, winning the BWF World Championships last year and a silver medal at this year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Being the sibling of such badminton royalty therefore brings with it expectations, and Sarunrak Vitidsarn isn’t oblivious to that. Kunlavut’s younger sister by five years, Sarunrak entered the BWF World Junior Championships 2024 as top seed. The going has been good so far, as the 18-year-old made it comfortably to the quarterfinals, beating Czechia’s Lucie Krulova 21-11 21-15.
“I feel great that I can play like this, that I can enjoy myself,” said the Thai. “I’ve had an Achilles injury in my left leg since January. I’ve been training with it, but I need to keep training. While playing I forget about it, but after the match it hurts very bad.”
Sarunrak Vitidsarn
Despite the injury, Sarunrak has had a successful season. After finishing runner-up at the Dutch Junior International, she won three titles in a row — the German Junior, Alpes International, and a double at the Croatia Valamar Junior Open, before a semifinal at the Asian Junior Championships.
“Earlier, I felt the pressure, I thought I must be like him,” she said, of the burden of carrying the famous surname. “But now, I don’t think like that and I don’t feel the pressure right now. I don’t compare myself to him; I think he’s inspiring me to want to play badminton, and to keep doing better.
“At home, I always ask him for his opinions. During tournaments, I ask him about my performance, about things that I need to improve on. At our club, Saturdays and Sundays are game days, so I always ask his opinion on my game. He gives me a lot of feedback – on my speed, my handwork, and so on.”
What is it about her brother that most inspires her?
“His attitude about badminton – he plays to learn from it, not to win. He concentrates on the process, not on the result.
“I also try to follow that, because it’s good to think like that.”
In the quarterfinals, Sarunrak faces home favourite Yuan An Qi. Yuan was one of four Chinese to make the last eight; the others being third seed Xu Wen Jing, who withstood a spirited first game from Sri Lanka’s Ranithma Liyanage; 14th seed Yin Yi Qing, who beat Pitchamon Opatniputh, and Dai Qin Yi.
Defending champion and second seed Opatniputh went down in a hard-fought battle to Yin Yi Qing, but said she was satisfied with her performance.
“I had cramps in my left thigh, so I was quite slow. I had a lead in the third game and then the cramp started hurting me. I was happy with myself because my performance was better than the last three months,” said Opatniputh.
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