Thailand’s rising star, Pitchamon Opatniputh won the BWF Junior World Championships 2023 without conceding a single game in the six matches she played. Pitchamon is affectionately known as “Pink”.
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Although not yet a U19 junior player, 16-year-old Pitchamon Opatniputh overpowered China’s Xu Wen Jin in the semifinal and thrashed Indonesian ladies’ singles player Chiara Marvella HANDOYO in the final. In fairness, the Indonesian girl seemed handicapped from an injury in the ladies’ finals match.
The BWF World Junior Championships 2023 took place in Spokane, Washington State, United States.
With this win, Pink is well positioned to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Rathanok Intanon. Before Rathanok became a badminton superstar on the BWF World Tour, she won the World Junior Championship girls singles a whopping 3 times.
Another current top-10 player from Thailand, men’s singles top-10 player Kunlavut Vitidsarn, also won the Junior World Championship three times.
Watch Pitchamon Opatniputh play the final at the World Junior Championships
Noteworthy achievements in women’s singles competition
These promising badminton players showed an impressive skill level, but didn’t quite make it all the way to the final:
– Sarunrak Vitidsarn from Thailand was ousted in the quarterfinals
– Gianna Stiglich from Italy made it to the quarterfinals
– Tara Shah from India made it to the quarterfinals (Tara is one of the many talented players regularly practicing at the Yone Peter Gade Academy in Denmark)
Click here to see the complete draw and all results from the World Junior Championships 2023
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