Singapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew may not have clinched the title in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 event on Sunday, losing to world No. 2 Viktor Axelsen (Loh's brave run ends in final loss, Nov 29), but he has won the hearts of many.

As a relatively unknown player, he had brought down China's supremo Lin Dan at the 2019 Thailand Masters.

And appearing as a finalist in the past two months in the Super 100 Dutch Open, the Super 500 Hylo Open and Sunday's Indonesia Open, he has achieved a feat not many can.

He has proven to be a man of mettle, beating the likes of Japan's world No. 1 Kento Momota, Chinese Taipei's world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen, and Malaysia's All England champion Lee Zii Jia during that span.

The coming BWF World Championships in Spain from Dec 12 to 19 will be mentally challenging for Loh, but fans and the whole of Singapore will rally behind him in his quest for glory.

Bennie Cheok