Victor Lai of Scarborough, Ontario has won the 2026 Korea Open. On Sunday, Lai defeated Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-14, to win his second Badminton World Federation World Tour title.
In Yeosu this past week, Lai was seeded second. He was only seeded behind Tien-chen Chou of Chinese Taipei, who was upset in the first round by Yu-kai Wang of Chinese Taipei, 21-18, 16-21, 21-12.
Lai defeated fellow Canadian Brian Yang of Toronto, Ontario 21-16, 22-20 in the first round. That was followed by a 21-13, 21-16 win over Xuanchen Zhu of China in the second round, a 21-19, 21-12 win over Yudai Okimoto of Japan in the quarterfinals and a 19-21, 21-15, 21-12 win over Cheuk Yiu Lee of Hong Kong in the semifinals.
It has simply been quite the year for Lai. This is his second Badminton World Federation World Tour title. In Jakarta in June, Lai won the Indonesia Open, where he beat Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the final, 21-19, 21-8. The Indonesia Open is a Super 1000 event, while the Korea Open is only a Super 500 event. Lai also won bronze at the World Badminton Championships.
With the win at the Korea Open, Lai is now ranked sixth in the world with 79, 845 points. The title will also give Lai confidence as he prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
