Fans can watch Loh Kean Yew’s Singapore Open final on May 31 free on SPOTV

SINGAPORE – Loh Kean Yew’s KFF Singapore Badminton Open men’s singles final against Frenchman Alex Lanier will be screened live for free on SPOTV’s website and YouTube page on May 31. The match is expected to start at about 7pm.

Shortly after noon on the day of the finals, a notice was posted on the activesgcircle Instagram page to announce the news: “Sport Singapore, working with SPOTV, is bringing the live action to you on SPOTV website and YouTube... so you can join the nation in cheering on our TeamSG athlete.”

It is understood that national sports agency Sport Singapore is also arranging to broadcast Loh’s match against the ninth-ranked Lanier at the majority of its ActiveSG centres and People’s Association locations such as Our Tampines Hub.

Earlier in the week, the 28-year-old Loh, ranked 14th, beat India’s 37th-ranked Srikanth Kidambi, 35th-ranked H.S. Prannoy, 18th-ranked Taiwanese Chi Yu-jen, and Japan’s world No. 19 Koki Watanabe, all in three games, to become the first Singaporean to make the men’s singles final since Ronald Susilo in 2002.

He is now bidding to become the first Singaporean to triumph at the tournament since 2010 women’s doubles champions Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei, and the first Singaporean to win the men’s singles title since Wee Choon Seng in 1962.

Throughout the week, tens of thousands of fans turned up at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to cheer Loh on in his heroic run, but many more who were unable to attend the matches were left frustrated due to the lack of live broadcast options.

The tournament was televised on MediaCorp’s mewatch and StarHub via SPOTV in 2025, but it was missing from both broadcasters’ offerings in 2026, although live streaming of the 2026 edition was available on the SPOTV Now website through at least a $19.98 monthly subscription.

In response to The Straits Times’ queries, Singapore Badminton Association chief executive officer Woo Kaiwei shared that “the domestic broadcast rights to this year’s tournament have been licensed to SPOTV”.

He added: “Opportunities for additional local broadcast distribution were explored; however, the required commercial arrangements were not finalised for this edition.”