Loh Kean Yew nominated for Badminton World Federation (BWF) 2022 Male Player Of The Year

The BWF Player of the Year Awards 2022 Nominees were announced on Monday (Nov 28), and 2021 men’s singles world champion Loh Kean Yew is up for the Male Player Of The Year Award.

The other two nominees in this category are Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. Axelsen is currently ranked the top male singles player in the badminton world rankings, with Lee and Loh ranked second and third, respectively. The award ceremony will take place on Dec 5 at the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 Gala Dinner.

“Nominees were selected based on performances in the 2021/2022 season from 1 November 2021 to 31 October 2022 and recognises achievements of our elite badminton and Para badminton players and pairs in eight categories,” BWF said on its site.

Badminton Talk tweeted the names of the nominees, and also conducted an informal poll for Twitter users to vote for whom they wanted as the winner.

Loh, the first Singaporean to be nominated for the award, re-tweeted it, jokingly adding, “Still voting for myself here no matter what the outcome.”

Axelsen, Loh’s friend and training partner, tweeted back “Sorry bro” with half a dozen crying emojis, as the poll showed him in the lead with 59 per cent of the votes to Loh’s 24 per cent and Lee’s 17 per cent.

But Loh and Lee’s loyal fans have been voting since then and Axelsen’s lead has narrowed, although not by much.

Loh recently reached career highs not only with ranking third in the world but also with winning Sportsman of the Year at the Singapore Sports Awards on Nov 10 and being the first Singaporean to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 on Nov 16.

The final tournament of this year’s BWF World Tour was originally scheduled for Dec 14 to 18 in Guangzhou, China. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was moved to Dec 7 to 11 and the new venue is Bangkok, Thailand. It will be hosted by the Badminton Association of Thailand.

The total prize for the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 is a cool US$1,500,000 (S$2,000,000), with singles winners taking home US$120,000 (S$164,000).

The eight athletes vying for the men’s singles are Axelsen; Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, ranked second in the world, India’s HS Prannoy, Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, Loh and China’s Lu Guangzu. /TISG

‘Woohooooooo’ Loh Kean Yew delighted to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals 2022