Loh Kean Yew Makes History By Becoming the First S’porean to Win a Medal in BWF World Championships

2021 is coming to an end, and if we’re being honest, it wasn’t much better than 2020.

Coronavirus-related restrictions are still here, border closures are still in place, and large New Year’s parties remain illegal.

There’s one Singaporean, however, who’s had a great year.

Specifically on the badminton court. 

Loh Kean Yew Makes History By Becoming the First S’porean to Win a Medal in BWF World Championships

Local shuttler Loh Kean Yew has once again smashed his way through to the semi-finals of an international tournament, beating out India’s Prannoy H in the quarter-finals of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships in Spain.

Though he is yet to step onto the court for his semi-final clash with Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, Loh has already made history by becoming the first Singaporean shuttler to win a medal in the BWF World Championships. 

Loh has eased to victory in many of his recent matches, but his battle with 32nd-ranked Prannoy was certainly a tough one.

Prannoy clawed his way back to 11-10 after Loh took a 3-0 lead, but Loh, as assured as ever, went on to win the game 21-14.

At one point in the second game, the two shuttlers were tied at 8-8, and it looked like it could go either way. But Loh was simply too good on the day, and defeated Pranay 21-12.

Next up for Loh is Antonsen, ranked three in the world. Antonsen might be 19 places ahead of Loh (22nd) in the rankings, but that has clearly never deterred the Singaporean.

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Defeated Former World #1 Badminton Player

In the very first round of the tournament of the BWF World Championships, Loh shocked the badminton world by defeating Denmark’s Viktor Axelson, a former world number 1, who was World No. 2 at the time.

Though Loh lost his first game to the Dane 14-21, the 24-year-old refused to throw in the towel, coming back to win the next two games 21-9, 21-6.

It was Loh’s first career win over Axelson.

Earlier this year, Loh also became the first Singaporean to qualify for the final of a Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 1000 event. And though he lost in the final, Loh still walked away with S$39,600 as the runner up of the tournament.

His biggest win came earlier in November when he defeated Malaysia’s world No. 8 Lee Zii Jia in the US$320,000 (S$432,000) Hylo Open in Germany.

He won the Dutch Open in October as well, which was his first international tournament in two years. It was his sixth international title.

At this point, you wouldn’t bet against this kid going all the way and getting a gold medal.

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Featured Image: Facebook (Team Singapore)