Fresh from winning Sportsman of the Year at the Singapore Sports Awards on Nov 10, Loh Kean Yew is proving that he’s ending the year on a high note; being the first Singaporean to qualify for the BWF World Tour Finals 2022.
An exultant Loh tweeted “Woohooooooo” on Wednesday morning (Nov 16).
Woohooooooo 🥳🥳🥳 hehehehehe https://t.co/mMO7MyStmr
— Loh Kean Yew (@reallohkeanyew) November 16, 2022
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, and 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 win are Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen; the top badminton player in the world for this category, and Loh’s good friend; 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.
Loh also marked a career-high earlier this month as he ranked third in badminton world rankings.
At the Singapore Sports Awards, he bested former pool world No. 1 Aloysius Yapp in the category, while paddler Yu Mengyu, 33, won in the Sportswoman of the Year category.
True to his humble and gracious nature, he acknowledged his parents after receiving his trophy and a $10,000 cheque at the awarding ceremony.
“One of the most important sacrifices they made was to send us (Loh and brother Kean Hean, also a national badminton player) to Singapore. I can’t imagine what they went through every day with their children being away from them. That is one of the biggest sacrifices – not being able to spend time with us,” The Straits Times quotes the athlete as saying, adding that Loh also said he’ll be spending time with his parents to celebrate his win.
In an Instagram post after receiving the award, he chose to honour his parents as well.
“I’m very thankful for this recognition and very happy for everyone who received awards. What made it more special was that I had my parents there at the Singapore Sports Awards to share this happy moment with me. Thank you Pa and Ma, for your sacrifices and support, this 🏆 is for you. ❤️,” he wrote.
/TISG
‘Well-deserved’ congratulations pour in marking Loh Kean Yew’s big win as Sportsman of the Year!