Singapore — The country’s newly-minted badminton world champion, Loh Kean Yew, dedicated his historic win to the country in an Instagram post on early Monday morning (local time), writing, “Singapore, this is for you 🥇🇸🇬 😄”
Loh, 24, is the first Singaporean to win a BWF World Championship title, having defeated India’s Srikanth Kidambi in the men’s singles final in Huelva, Spain, on Sunday (Dec 19).
He added that it had only been in his “wildest dreams” that he dared dream “of this day — of a world champs medal, and of Singapore’s first,” before going on to congratulate Kidambi, as well as Denmark’s Anders Antonsen and India’s Lakshya Sen, the other medalists on Sunday night.
Loh, who last month marked a men’s singles title win at the Hylo Open 2021 in Saarbrucken, Germany, called his journey to the championship “the most incredible ride so far, and it only pushes me on to continue to work hard to be a better athlete.”
He then went on to thank the “Singapore Badminton Association, Singapore Sports Institute, Lining, my coaches, teammates and training partners, physios and the sports medicine and science team, my family, friends and supporters — thank you for believing in me and for being there for me. It means a lot to me to know that I am in good company in this journey.”
Loh has been on a meteoric rise in the past few years. In early 2019, he scored a sensational victory over two-time Olympic singles champion Lin Dan to win the Thailand Masters finals.
Then just 21, Loh was relatively unknown and ranked 125th in the world, seemed to have risen out from nowhere.
In October, Loh won the Dutch Open.
And at Saarbrucken, he defeated reigning All-England champion Lee Zii Jia and gained his second professional title. It was also his first win at the Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 500 level, the fourth tier on the professional badminton circuit.
Born in Penang, Malaysia, in 1997, the athlete arrived in Singapore due to a scholarship from Singapore Sports School in 2010.
His older brother, Loh Kean Hean, came to Singapore the year before he did and is also a badminton player—a doubles specialist who represents the country in tournaments.
The brothers later became Singapore citizens, with Mr Loh quoted as saying, “I am honoured to wear the Singapore flag on my chest.”
On Sunday, he echoed this by writing, “As always, I’m very proud to wear the 🇸🇬 flag here in Spain.”
He is “Going to enjoy this moment for now, and also get some rest and recharge for the upcoming season.
The work begins again soon.” /TISG
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