Loh Kean Yew may not have gotten the medal he wanted at the recently concluded SEA Games in Hanoi, but he was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. In fact, Loh, 24, is the only athlete from the Little Red Dot on the list for Entertainment & Sports this year, with the distinction of being “the first Singaporean to be crowned badminton world champion.”
Rapper Yung Raja, who was featured on The Tonight Show last year, also made the list. Born Rajid Ahamed, he rose to fame after he was signed by U.S. label Alamo Records last year.
Three hundred “entrepreneurs, leaders and trailblazers across the Asia-Pacific region,” all under thirty, are on the list, with 30 honorees in ten categories, which include The Arts (Art & Style, Food & Drink); Entertainment & Sports; Finance & Venture Capital; Media, Marketing & Advertising; Retail & Ecommerce; Industry, Manufacturing & Energy; Healthcare & Science; and Social Impact.
“Entrepreneurs and innovators on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list are working towards reconnecting Asia, after the disruption and isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Rana Wehbe Watson, the editor of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia said.
Loh is the Badminton World Federation’s reigning singles world champion, having won at the 2021 BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, last December.
“His fairytale run included beating world No. 1 and Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen, whose training camp he had attended a few months prior.
Born in Malaysia, Loh took Singapore citizenship and was the country’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics’ opening ceremony. He is currently No. 10 in BWF world ranking,” reads his bio on the Forbes list.
Forbes also noted that the rapper Yung Raja “has expressed gratitude for being able to take care of his parents as an artist while adding to Singapore’s rap scene.”
“The first-generation Singaporean son of Indian parents, he caught the attention of the Tamil diaspora with his rapid-fire lyrics and references to Tamil poetry and food, and Hindu religion.”
Notable names in the Entertainment & Sports category are Eileen Gu, the Chinese Olympic gold-medalist, as well as South Korea’s Jin Young Ko, the number one female golfer in the world.
Atop the list is Hoyeon, noted for her star-making turn on Netflix’s most-watched show, Squid Game. The South Korean won the best actress in a drama series at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards and is slated to appear as the lead in Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer.
Forbes also noted that Hoyeon “who has almost 24 million Instagram followers, became a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton last year.”
The full list of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia for Entertainment & Sports may be found here. /TISG
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