Badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew took another step toward making history, advancing to the quarter-finals at the Singapore Open on Thursday (July 14). In 40 minutes, he breezed past Indonesia’s Tommy Sugarto 21-13,21-17.
All eyes are on Loh, 25, who is gunning to become the first Singaporean in sixty years to win the Men’s Singles title. The last time this happened was in 1962 when Wee Choon Seng bagged the title.
If Loh, currently ranked ninth in the world, wins, it will also be his first title for the year.
The quarter-finals is the furthest he has gone in this tournament since 2018.
The match with Sugarto was a hard-won fight for the athlete, however.
“I was struggling to control the drift in the second game. But I’m glad I managed to overcome that and win. I had to calm myself down repeatedly as I was always trailing and trying to play catch-up,” he was quoted as saying in Yahoo! News.
But he was buoyed by playing an at-home game, Loh added.
“The crowd definitely motivated me to play better. I’m happy to be able to play my part in bringing everyone together. That’s what badminton is all about. To bring everyone together.”
The Straits Times quotes Loh as saying, “The home crowd was great again today. They were a big factor behind my win. They gave me confidence, motivated me to play better, and might also have had an effect on my opponent as the pressure built when I was catching up.”
Yahoo! News added that Loh’s chances of bagging the championship are even greater, as seeded players suffered surprise losses in their rounds.
Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, ranked eighth in the world, lost to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, who is ranked 43rd. Christie defeated Loh in their last five matches.
Even more shocking was the defeat of Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, ranked fourth in the world, to India’s H.S. Prannoy, ranked 19th.
Chou beat Loh at the Indonesia Masters semi-finals in June.
Loh’s next match is against China’s Li Shi Feng, ranked 37th in the world.
Christie and Chou’s defeats mean that there is only one player with a higher rank than Loh left, Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, ranked sixth in the world. /TISG