India Open 2024: World champion Kunlavut focussed on coping with pressure in Olympic year

Reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn wants to gain as much experience as possible by competing in more tournaments this season, hoping to step out of the hole that he found himself in at the end of last season. A maiden world championship gold medal in August made him the talk of the town but then came the low as he buckled under the burden of expectations to make a series of early exits to end the season on a disappointing note.

“It was a childhood dream to be a world championship winner, but after I won the title, many players started focusing on me and it put me under pressure,” said the world no. 7 with the help of an interpreter. The 22 year old from Thailand will look to defend his title at the India Open Super 750 starting at KD Jadhav Stadium Hall in I G stadium here on Tuesday.

“After the India Open, I will focus on Super 500 tournaments and try to make a comeback. End of last season, I skipped few tournaments to take rest but I have spoken to my coach to participate more and try to change and adapt my style to return to top performance.” Accolades followed after Kunlavut became Thailand’s first world badminton champion in men’s singles.

He was only the fourth badminton player from Thailand to win a gold in the world badminton championship after Ratchanok Intanon who was the 2013 world champion in women’s singles and Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai who claimed the mixed doubles gold in 2021. “After the World Championships, when I went back to Thailand, everyone welcomed me and I became very famous in Thailand.

I was glad but I always saw the World Championships as just another tournament,” said the 2021 World Championships silver medallist. “After the world championships, there were many interviews and a lot of attention from the media. I couldn’t practice consistently, so I withdrew from tournaments and took a break.

“But, when I returned, I was not able to deal with the pressure, and it affected my performance.” Kunlavut, a three time world junior champion, could make it to just one quarterfinal in the seven tournaments that he participated in after the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. “Most of my bad performance was due to the mental side of it and not due to any fitness issues.

I will have to get used to the pressure by participating in more tournaments and learning from experience. “More matches mean more experience, every single match will improve me and I will look to adjust my thoughts and adapt my style of play to overcome the mental pressure.” “I will try to enjoy the matches against the top players.” Kunlavut, who is part of the junior batch of 2018, including India’s Lakshya Sen (world no 17) and Japan’s Kodai Naraoka (world no.2), is a top contender for a medal at the Paris Olympics.

“When I was young I liked Boonsak (Ponsana) and Lee Chong Wei, they had a different style of play. I learned from them and adapted them to my game. “Many new Thailand players are coming up and are going to be stars in world badminton in the future but they need to have experience and train hard for it,” he signed off.

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