S’pore’s Loh Kean Yew Caused Major Upset By Defeating Former World #1 Badminton Player in New Tournament

This is something not many of us can say, but it’s been a great year for Singaporean shuttler Loh Kean Yew.

Loh grabbed the headlines last month when he smashed his way through to the final of the Indonesia Open, trouncing several higher-ranked players in the process.

In the final, Loh, ranked 26th, went up against world number two Viktor Axelsen from Denmark.

Though he put up a spirited fight, the 24-year-old ended up losing the tie to Axelsen.

But just two weeks later, Loh got his revenge.

S’pore’s Loh Kean Yew Caused Major Upset By Defeating Former World #1 Badminton Player in New Tournament

Loh caused a major upset in the first round of the men’s singles at the BWF World Championships today (14 Dec), defeating Axelson, who was ranked world number one.

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

This is Loh’s first career win over Axelson.

Currently ranked 22nd in the world, Loh will now face Austria’s Luka Wraber in the round of 32 in the Spain championships.

“Master vs Apprentice”

Loh’s earlier game with Axelson in the final of the Indonesia Open was dubbed “Master vs apprentice”, as the Singaporean had trained with the experienced Dane for a month earlier this year.

The match, which lasted nearly an hour, ended 13-21, 21-9, 13-21 in Axelson’s favour.

No one could possibly be disappointed with Loh despite his loss, though, as he had upset several higher-ranked opponents in his stunning run, the most notable of whom was Japanese Kento Momota, who was then world number one.

The 24-year-old had beaten two other Danes in his stunning run to the final – Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the quarters and Rasmus Gemke in the semi-final.

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.

The 24-year-old’s 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.

Loh, who had reportedly started playing badminton at the age of seven, had quit his studies at Republic Polytechnic to pursue a professional career in badminton.

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