Thailand has produced some of the best badminton players in the world. Their shuttlers have brought laurels to the country on several international stages.
In this article, let us take a look at the top four greatest badminton players from Thailand.
Top 4 Greatest Badminton Players From Thailand
Kunlavut Vitidsarn
Kunlavut Vitidsarn became the first Thai to become No.1 in men’s singles. He is the current Asia men’s singles champion as he won the gold medal at the 2025 Asian Championships,as well as a silver medalist in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He was also three-times World Junior champion, winning in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
He is nicknamed the “Three-Game God” because his defensive style generally requires him to play three games long and is likely to win in the end due to the opponent’s stamina loss.
Vitidsarn won the silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and, in the following year, the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships. He became the first Thai player to win the World Championships title in the men’s singles category. Vitidsarn clinched the gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games and 2025 Asian Championships. He reached a career high of world number 1 in May 2025.
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon became the first Thai to become No.1 in women’s singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as ‘balletic’ by commentators such as Gillian Clark. She became the world champion in women’s singles in 2013.
She is the youngest ever singles champion at the BWF World Championships (2013, age of 18 years, 6 months and 6 days) and the BWF World Junior Championships (2009, age of 14).
She is also the first ever singles player to win three Superseries titles in three consecutive weeks and the first ever Thai badminton player ranked world number 1.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh
Dechapol Puavaranukroh is a Thai badminton player. He was a gold medalist at the 2014 BWF World Junior Championships in the boys’ doubles event with his partner Kittinupong Kedren. Dechapol claimed doubles titles at the 2017 SEA Games by winning the gold medal in the men’s doubles with Kedren and in the mixed doubles with Sapsiree Taerattanachai.
Together with Sapsiree, he won the silver and gold medals at the BWF World Championships in 2019 and 2021 respectively, becoming the first Thai pair who won the world title. The duo made a clean sweep of all three 2020 Asian leg titles in Thailand and all 2021 Bali leg titles, thus climbing to world number 1 in the BWF ranking. Dechapol and Sapsiree made history as the first ever Thai players to win a title in the year-end Finals tournaments and rank first in the world ranking.
Also Read: Top 6 Best Badminton Rackets In The World
Sapsiree Taerattanachai
Sapsiree Taerattanachai claimed titles in the mixed doubles with Dechapol Puavaranukroh at the 2017 SEA Games and at the 2021 World Championships. Sapsiree and Dechapol made history as the first ever Thai pair to win the year-end Finals tournaments, the World Championships title and rank first in the world ranking.
Sapsiree competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Asian Games; and at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She won gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
She won the women’s doubles title at the 2012 India Open Grand Prix Gold, then the women’s singles title at the 2013 U.S. Open Grand Prix Gold. With her mixed doubles victory at the 2017 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, she did one better and became the first player to win Grand Prix Gold titles in all three disciplines.
