Fans are in for a treat with Loh Kean Yew and Viktor Axelsen facing each other again. The 2021 world badminton champion, Singaporean Loh Kean Yew, is in fine form at the BWF Denmark Open 2021, winning his second match in under 35 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals.
There he will be facing Viktor Axelsen, 28, on Friday (Oct 21). The Danish athlete is currently ranked world number one in badminton player, while Loh, 25, is ranked fifth.
BWF Denmark Open 2021: Loh Kean Yew vs Viktor Axelsen
A Loh Kean Yew–Viktor Axelsen court encounter is something to savor not just because the two are among the best in the game but also because of their off-court camaraderie.
The two athletes have trained together and appear to be firm friends, judging from their good-natured ribbing as well as shared meals with Axelsen’s family on their social media posts.
Twitter screengrab/@ViktorAxelsenLoh beat India’s Kidambi Srikanth 21-13, 21-15 on Thursday (Oct 20) to advance to the quarter-finals. It was against Kidambi, 29, that Loh made history at the 2021 BWF World Championships, winning the crown, in Huelva, Spain, last December.
Before his match against Kidambi, Loh bested Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin on Tuesday (Oct 18) in the first round 21-13, 22-20.
Axelsen, meanwhile, breezed past Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the first round 21-16, 21-8, before winning against his countryman Rasmus Demke, 21-15, 21-19 in the second round on Thursday.
The other two players to reach the quarter-finals are Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, ranked third in the world, and Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, ranked seventh.
Loh Kean Yew and Viktor Axelsen had faced off against each other in the first round of last year’s World Championships. The Singaporean then ranked 22nd in the world, beating the number one player 14–21, 21–9, 21–6.
It was the first time that Loh won over Axelsen.
Earlier this month, Loh became Singapore’s highest-ranked men’s badminton player, despite an uneven 2022. He is the first Singaporean to break into the charmed circle of the top five badminton players in the world.
Loh took a much-needed break last month after having had a busy match schedule this year.
After making history when he won the championship in Spain, he immediately went on to the Indian Open in January, where he lost to India’s 20-year-old Lakshya Sen, 22-24, 17-21, in the final in a game that lasted nearly an hour.
On Sept 1, after a defeat in the Japan Open, Loh announced over social media that he would be taking a break “to allow my body and mind to rest, recover and recharge”.
He wrote, “It’s been a long tour – one filled with many lessons and opportunities. I’ll cherish the happy times and learn from the tough times to create better experiences for the future.”
Judging from his performance in the BFW Denmark Open 2021, it looks like the rest Loh took has paid off. Whether it will pay extra dividends hangs in the balance as Loh Kean Yew and Viktor Axelsen face each other again. /TISG