Badminton News: Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen is a class above him in his pursuit of the men’s singles title at the prestigious 2023 BWF World Championships in Copenhagen.

On paper, the 29-year-old is seen as the favorite to win his third world title and become the first Dane to win it on home soil against Copenhagen.

Viktor Axelsen won the last two world championships at Glasgow 2017 and Tokyo 2022. However, there are two different groups of players looking to spoil the party.

One is the common rival, which includes Chou Tien-chen from Taiwan; Jonatan Christie from Indonesia, Lee Zii Jia from Malaysia, Shi Yuqi, Lu Guangzu from China, Angus Ng Ka Long from Hong, Anders Antonsen from Denmark, Kenta Nishimoto from Japan, Loh Kean Yew from Singapore, K. Srikanth and HS Prannoy from ‘India .

Even the absence of second seed Anthony Ginting is unlikely to weaken the strength of the men’s singles.

The other group is made up of talented youngsters, aged 23 and under, who are eager to show off their skills on the big stage.

They are Kodai Naraoka (22 years old), Kunlavut Vitidsarn (22 years old), Lakshya Sen (22 years old), Li Shifeng (23 years old) and Ng Tze Yong (23 years old).

Everything has the ability to create a surprise on their auspicious day.

It’s unfortunate that they’ve had to deal with some form of injury and illness over the past year, but they’re now fit, ready and looking forward to the World Championships.

Of the five players in their early twenties, Vitidsarn has proven to be the most successful player this year, having won the Indian Open and the Thailand Open.

He is also one of the few, along with Tze Yong, to beat Axelsen this year.

Former national coach Datuk Rashid Sidek still believes Viktor Axelsen is above the rest but agrees some have caught up.

“It will be an interesting men’s singles match this time around,” Rashid said.

“On paper Axelsen looks good. He also has the home advantage. He was pushed to become the first Dane to win in his backyard. But we have seen surprises at the World Championships in the past, so we can’t rule out anything else.”

“I really think these young players like Kodai and Kunlavut have the pedigree to make this edition a memorable one for them.”

Rashid believes China also have a strong team to end their long wait for a men’s singles title.

“They have four quality players (Shi Yuqi, Li Shifeng, Lu Guangzu, Zhao Junpeng) in contention. The men’s singles title has not been won by China for a long time, it was once dominated by Lin Dan, Chen Long , Yang Yang and others,” he said.

“We can expect them to make their presence felt this time around.”

Lin Dan has won five world titles followed by Yang Yang (2); Chen Long (2); Han Jian, Zhao Jianhua, Sun Jun, Xia Xuanze and Chen Jin (1). Yet they haven’t won singles since Chen Long’s 2015 feat in Jakarta.

Tags: viktor axelsen, Kodai Naraoka, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, BWF World Championships 2023