Kunlavut Vitidsarn will battle it out against top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark for the world men’s singles badminton title in Japan today.
The Thai rising star, who is seeded 16th this week, defeated Zhao Junpeng of China 22-20, 21-6 in 43 minutes in the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships on Saturday at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Kunlavut had knocked out Singaporean defending champion Loh Kean Yew in the quarter-finals on Friday.
He is the last Thai standing in the tournament, after the elimination of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the women’s doubles semi-finals earlier Saturday.
The Thai 14th seeds were beaten by fourth seeds Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong of South Korea 21-16, 19-21, 25-23 in an hour and 31 minutes.
The Korean duo will play top seeds Chen Qing-chen and Jia Yifan of China in Sunday’s final.
