Dechapol Puavaranukroh

Dechapol Puavaranukroh is a Thai badminton player who, with partner Sapsiree Taerattanachai, became the first Thai pair to win a BWF World Championship title, in mixed doubles in 2021, and reached World No. 1.

Dechapol Puavaranukroh, nicknamed 'Bass', was born on May 20, 1997, in Chonburi province, Thailand, and began playing badminton with his family at age seven. He won gold in boys' doubles at the 2014 BWF World Junior Championships partnering Kittinupong Kedren, becoming part of the first Thai pair to win a World Junior title, and went on to win a further SEA Games gold in men's doubles with Kedren in 2017. Puavaranukroh's greatest success came in mixed doubles alongside Sapsiree Taerattanachai, a partnership that also won SEA Games gold in 2017. The pair developed into one of the most dominant mixed doubles combinations in the world during 2020 and 2021, sweeping a series of Asian leg World Tour titles and becoming the first-ever Thai pair to win a BWF World Tour Finals title, which propelled them to the World No. 1 ranking in December 2021. Puavaranukroh and Taerattanachai's signature triumph came at the 2021 World Championships in Huelva, Spain, where they beat Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino in the final to win gold, having finished runner-up at the 2019 World Championships in Basel. Puavaranukroh continued competing in both men's and mixed doubles with various partners into the mid-2020s, remaining one of the cornerstones of Thailand's modern doubles success.

Versatile doubles player with a strong smash and effective net exchanges

A key figure in establishing Thailand as a genuine force in world doubles badminton

• World Champion, mixed doubles (2021)
• World Championship silver, mixed doubles (2019)
• World No. 1, mixed doubles (2021)
• 2x SEA Games gold (2017, men's and mixed doubles)
• World Junior Championship gold, boys' doubles (2014)