Singapore’s badminton champion Loh Kean Yew has reached yet another career high. From last week’s ranking of number five in the world, Loh, 25, jumped two spots up and is now third.
He follows good friend, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, who has stayed in pole position, and Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, whom Loh bested when he won last year’s Hylo Open, who is ranked second.
Loh is the first Singaporean athlete to win at the BWF World Championships (2021), as well as the first to break into the sport’s world top three.
The humble and well-liked Low wrote in a social media post, “Today, I am officially ranked 3rd in the world. This feels so surreal, I find it hard to believe and I am very thankful for being on this miraculous journey.”
“Last year, I competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games ranked 39th in the world. My 2021 European circuit started with a ranking of 40 at the Dutch Open, and at the 2021 World Championships, I finished the year at 15th ranking and a world title.
Before the Olympic Games, I always had to ‘pray’ that I qualify for Super 500 and above tournaments as I wasn’t among the top 32 ranked. Being on the reserved list means that only if others withdrew, I stood a chance. My ‘fate’ was determined by others,” he added.
In the past month alone, he reached the quarter-finals in major games in Europe three times.
On Oct 21, in just half an hour, Loh bested Axelsen at the Denmark Open, 21-17 and 21-10, ending the Danish champion’s 39-game winning streak.
However, a few days later, it was Axelsen’s turn to trounce Loh at the French Open quarter-finals 21-11, 21-17, before going on to beat his countryman, Rasmus Gemke, to take the title for the men’s singles.
And on Nov 3, at the Hylo Open at Saarbrucken, Germany, Loh won over Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rustavito, 17-21, 21-15, 21-19, in three sets, in a game that lasted almost an hour, to advance to the quarter-finals.
The next day, however, Shesar’s countryman Anthony Ginting bested Loh, 21-13, 21-14.
Ginting, ranked eighth in the world, went on to take the top prize on Nov 6, defeating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen in the final.
The next step for Loh is the Australian Open, which will be held in Sydney from Nov 15 to 20, the last competition before the World Tour Finals.
He needs to win the first-round match at the competition, in order to qualify for the World Tour Finals.
In his most recent Instagram post on Nov 6, Loh wrote that he was “Leaving Germany after a 3-week European campaign and it’s time to head home for the 🇸🇬Singapore Sports Awards next week, looking forward to see familiar faces again.”
Loh and pool world number one Aloysius Yapp are up for the title of Sportsman of the Year honour at the 2022 Singapore Sports Awards.
We’ll all find out the winner at the SSA presentation ceremony on Nov 10 (Thursday). /TISG
Loh Kean Yew makes it to the quarter-finals! Can he take Hylo Open again this year?