World No 1 Viktor Axelsen and host of world and regional champs Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Pornpawee Chochuwong to play at Singapore Badminton Open 2022

The world’s top-ranked No 1 male player Viktor Axelsen and the recently crowned SEA Games champions Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Pornpawee Chochuwong are among the headliners at the 2022 Singapore Badminton Open, which makes its return after a pandemic-enforced two-year break.

Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, the world No 1 and reigning Olympic champion, will include in the competition, as will Thai ace Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) said on Wednesday (May 25).

The triplet is hoping to win the US$370,000 (S$507,000) event for the first time, and keeping in mind that Olympic champion Axelsen will without a doubt be the #1 to break his duck in Singapore, the Dane will confront fierce competition from the likes of three-time world youth champion Kunlavut.

They will be joined by other high-profile players, for example, Singapore world champion Loh Kean Yew, who was beaten by Kunlavut in the SEA Games men’s singles final on Sunday (May 22).

Other top Thais who will highlight at the Singapore Indoor Stadium are 2016 women’s singles champion Ratchanok Intanon, as well as world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, the world’s top mixed doubles pair.

Dechapol and Sapsiree had made the final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Sunday however were beaten by China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, the Asian champions.

Somewhere else, China will send a strong team that will incorporate women’s doubles world champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan and Olympic women’s singles champion Chen Yu Fei.

Yu Fei, who fell 21-15, 17-21, 21-12 to world No. 1 Tai Tzu-Ying of Chinese Taipei in Sunday’s Thailand Open final, will expect to up the ante in Singapore.

India’s 2019 women’s singles world champion P. V. Sindhu will likewise be here.

Vitidsarn defeated Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew to claim gold at the new 31st SEA Games – a matchup that could see a repeat at the Open, planned to occur at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from Jul 12 to Jul 17.

The participation of world champion Loh, alongside Singapore mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Tan Wei Han, was announced earlier this month.

Axelsen, who has never won in Singapore, had pulled out of the current month’s Thailand Open, refering to an injury he sustained playing in the Thomas and Uber Cups.

Two different Danes, third-ranked Anders Antonsen and world No 13 Rasmus Gemke, are likewise partaking this year.

In the women’s field, Pornpawee Chochuwong and Phittayaporn Chaiwan will highlight at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Chochuwong recently beat Chaiwan in an all-Thai affair at the SEA Games singles final.

Current men’s doubles world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai will likewise join the Thai contingent, which additionally incorporates veteran and Singapore Open 2016 hero Ratchanok Intatnon.

Different members incorporate China’s Chen Yu Fei, the world’s fourth-ranked woman. The current world champions and top-ranked women’s doubles team of Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan will likewise make the trip to Singapore.

The Singapore Open was last held in 2019 when Kento Momota of Japan and Taiwanese Tai Tzu-Ying crowned the men’s and women’s singles champions.

Early-bird ticket sales have initiated, with season passes beginning from $100 for a family bundle of two tickets to $488 for a platinum pass which accompanies an exclusive seat total with food and drinks.

A single-day ticket begins from $5 for children and $30 for adults to $350 for a single-day premium seat on the final day.

These are available through Ticketmaster, and fans will appreciate early-bird rates until Tuesday (May 31) before general sales start from Wednesday to July 17.