Badminton: Loh Kean Yew crashes out of Indonesia Masters in second round
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Loh Kean Yew is out of the Indonesia Masters after losing to local favourite Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the second round.
PHOTO: AFP
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SINGAPORE - Loh Kean Yew’s quest for his first title in the 2023 season continues after the world No. 8 player was bundled out of his third consecutive badminton tournament in as many weeks on Thursday.
The Singaporean, 25, was upset 21-18, 21-15 by 23rd-ranked Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the second round of the men’s singles at the Indonesia Masters.
After losing the first game, Loh was trailing 20-9 in the second but managed to save six match points before succumbing to the Jayapura-born home favourite.
Both players last met in the 2022 edition in Jakarta, where Loh won in straight sets at the same stage to take his head-to-head record with Wardoyo to 2-0 then.
Wardoyo, 24, will next face Canadian world No. 30 Brian Yang – who upset sixth seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei in the first round – in the quarter-finals.
Speaking after the defeat, 2021 world champion Loh said: “I think he (Wardoyo) played well and today he was the better player. I couldn’t find an answer to it, so I just tried to enjoy the game.
“For now, I’ll go back and rest and start training again for the Asia Mixed Team Championships (Feb 14 to 19) in Dubai next.”
Singapore Badminton Association technical director Martin Andrew told The Straits Times: “We are working on a number of areas with his game and trying to gather that consistency when putting it into practice.
“These changes take time.”
It has been a bumpy start to the season for Loh, who failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open and India Open in January, both times falling to Thai nemesis Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
But Andrew believes that Loh’s recent results are not reflective of the improvements that he has made. He added: “Some of his recent performances have been stronger than when he won the World Championships in 2021 but that’s difficult to quantify in reality. He’s showing good improvements in areas of his game.”
Third seed Loh was not the only top player sent packing on Thursday, with Indonesia’s world No. 2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting losing to China’s 27th-ranked Shi Yuqi 21-19, 21-16. Malaysian Lee Zii Jia, fourth in the world, fell 21-16, 20-22, 13-21 to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng.
In the women’s singles, Singaporean world No. 35 Yeo Jia Min was beaten 22-20, 14-21, 22-20 by Denmark’s Line Christophersen in the first round on Thursday morning.
