It’s a big week for badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew, as he has the opportunity to become the first Singaporean to win the Men’s Singles title since 1962 at the Singapore Open, which takes place from July 12 to 17. Loh, who turned 25 recently, is in fine form, fresh from winning a silver at the SEA Games in May.
He acknowledged the high pressure of competing before the home crowd, but added that he has “learnt how to cope with that since winning the World Championships,” he said at a press conference on Monday (Jul 11). “I discuss with my coach about our game plan before each match. Every opponent is tough in his own way, and I cannot identify who will be my toughest opponent this week.
But I try not to get angry on the court. Getting angry is not going to change anything. I may be smiling but there’s lots of hidden stress,” Loh is quoted in Yahoo! News as saying.
The Singapore Badminton Open, which was on hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is the country’s “biggest and most prestigious” badminton tournament in the country.
World-class athletes vie for the US$370,000 prize purse at the event, which is held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The competition, organized by the Singapore Badminton Association, is a Super 500 event and is part of the HSBC BWF World Tour.
And while Loh has not yet won a title this year, he performed well at the India Open and Indonesia Masters earlier in the year.
Singapore open next week. Ada siapa yang datang tak? pic.twitter.com/4RYb73sluX
— Loh Kean Yew (@reallohkeanyew) July 6, 2022
The athlete, of course, along with the rest of Singapore, is hoping to bag his first title for 2022 this week.
He said he hopes he “can give them”—with crowds as big as 6000 expected— “something to celebrate”.
Winning the men’s singles this year would be something to celebrate indeed.
The last time this happened was in 1962 when Wee Choon Seng bagged the title.
Loh may have a very good chance of this, given that the top two seeded players in the event, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen, have withdrawn from the Open.
This leaves Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, as the top-seeded competitor. However, Chou beat Loh in the Indonesia Masters semi-finals in June.
For the first round, Loh faces France’s Brice Leverdez, who is unseeded. He won against the Frenchman at the Thailand Masters semi-finals in 2019, and went on to win the tournament.
From there, he is likely to play against Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto. Loh has only played against Sugiarto once, at the 2019 Australian Open, where the Singaporean champion lost the match. /TISG
https://theindependent.sg/battle-of-champions-loh-kean-yew-vs-longtime-rival-msias-lee-zii-jia-in-indonesia-open-quarter-finals/