Hero ‘View Kulwut’ receives over 11 million baht in bonus money after winning a silver medal in the men’s singles badminton at the 2024 Olympic Games. The Badminton World Federation has updated the world rankings, with ‘View’ moving up from 8th to 4th in the world.
On the morning of August 6, French time, which is 5 hours behind Thailand, at the Royal Thai Embassy in Paris, Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya assigned Mr. Saran Charoensuwan, Ambassador to Paris, as her representative to present a bouquet of flowers to ‘View’ Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the Thai badminton player ranked 8th in the world, who made history by winning a silver medal, the first medal for Thai badminton in the Olympic Games, as well as the first official medal for the Thai athletes in the ‘Paris 2024’ Olympic Games.
With Khunying Pathama Leeswadtrakul, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, Vice President of the Badminton World Federation and President of the Badminton Association of Thailand, Mr. Thana
Chaiprasit, Head of the Thai National Team, officials and employees of the Royal Thai Embassy and Team Thailand in Paris, along with representatives of the Thai community in France, also attending.
Look back at the historic silver medal winning journey of “View Kulwut”, who competed in the badminton competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, in the men’s singles, group stage, Group C, the first match, defeating Georgias Julien Paul, ranked 109th in the world from Mauritius, in two straight games, 21-9, 21-12.
Continuing with the 2nd game, he was still in excellent form, defeating Kalle Jononen, the world’s 61st ranked player from Finland, who was injured and had to give up. While View won the first game 21-4 and led 8-0 in the 2nd game, advancing to the last 16 to meet Kenta Nishimoto from Japan, before turning the tables and winning 2-1 games 16-21, 21-14 and 21-12, advancing to the last 8.
The last 8 rounds saw them meet Qi Yuqi, the world’s number 1 from China. In this game, Kunlavut played
tough and found the right moment to attack decisively, winning 2-0, 21-12 and 21-10. This is the first Thai male singles badminton player in 20 years to successfully advance to the semi-finals, after “Superman” Boonsak Ponsana did it at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
View Kulwut entered the semi-finals with Lee Zijie, the world’s 7th ranked player from Malaysia, before continuing his good form, winning 2 straight games 21-14 and 21-15, advancing to the gold medal round.
In the final, View Kulwut fought with all his heart before losing to Viktor Axelsen, world number 2 from Denmark, the defending champion from the 2020 Olympic Games and two-time world champion, 0-2 games 11-21 in both games, winning a historic silver medal. He is the first Thai athlete from badminton to win a medal from the Olympic Games since the first competition in 1992 and the first athlete to officially win a medal from the 2024 Olympic Games.
The Badminton World Federation recently updated the world rankings for men’s singles badmi
nton. View Kulwut moved up from 8th place in the world to 4th place in the world, with 83,958 points. The world’s number 1 is still Qi Yuqi, a Chinese badminton player, with 102,415 points, followed by Viktor Axelsen, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Denmark, with 97,370 points.
Khunying Pathama Leeswadtrakul, a member of the International Olympic Committee and the president of the Badminton Association of Thailand, presented a special personal prize of 1.5 million baht to Kulwut to express appreciation for his achievement in creating a new history for the Thai badminton industry.
In addition, Kulwut will receive a maximum prize money of 7.2 million baht from the National Sports Development Fund if he chooses to pay in installments. In addition, the Olympic medalist will also receive a salary from the National Olympic Committee of Thailand for 20 years at 10,000 baht per month for 20 years, or approximately 2.4 million baht, making the total prize money 11 million baht.
Important figures congratulat
ed View Kulwut on her silver medal, led by Prime Minister Settha Thavisin, who believed that View would be a great inspiration to other youths.
While “May” Ratchanok Intanon, a badminton player for the Thai national team and affiliated with the Ban Thong Yod Badminton School, posted a cute picture to express her congratulations.
Liverpool, the famous Premier League team that View Kulwut loves, posted a picture of View wearing a red shirt and congratulating her on this success.
Yesterday, the Ban Thong Yod Badminton School held a cheering activity for Nong View. There were many young badminton players in the school who enthusiastically cheered, led by ‘Mae Puk’, Ms. Kamala Thongkorn, the founder, who gave encouragement to View and commended her success.
For View Kulwut, the Olympic silver medalist hero, Nong May Ratchanok and ‘May Sai’ Supanida Ketthong, along with track and field athletes and shooting athletes, they will return to Thailand at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 05.55 a.m. Mr. Sermsak Pongpanich, Mini
ster of Tourism and Sports, will prepare a long drum procession to welcome them grandly.
Source: Thai News Agency