With three back-to-back tournaments coming to Bangkok next month, we examine which participant entered to the YONEX Thailand Open (12-17 January) and TOYOTA Thailand Open (19-24 January) has the most titles on Thai soil in the last five years. We kick off with men’s singles.

HAPPY HUNTER

Player: Tommy Sugiarto

World ranking: 26

Seed number in Thailand: 22

Titles won in Thailand since 2015: Two

Son of former world champion Icuk, Tommy loves battles in Thailand.

He was victorious at the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2017 despite facing home favourite Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the showpiece match.

A year later, in the first season of the HSBC BWF World Tour, the Indonesian veteran, not ready to relinquish his crown, beat Malaysian Leong Jun Hao 21-16 2-15 in the Super 300 final. He made a run to the TOYOTA Thailand Open final in the same campaign.

A young Sugiarto, now 32, also won his first international title in the country – the Thailand Satellite – in 2006.

HOW IS THE RECORD OF THE TOP 10 SEEDS LIKE?

Among those seeded next month, only Chou Tien Chen (TOYOTA Thailand Open 2019), Jonatan Christie (SCG Thailand Open 2017), Ng Ka Long Angus (Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters 2020) and Kanta Tsuneyama (TOYOTA Thailand Open 2018) have won individual titles in Thailand.

FUN FACT

Though unbeaten in Thailand, world No.1 Kento Momota has never become a champion there. The 26-year-old won all his matches during Japan’s Thomas Cup 2018 campaign.