Loh Kean Yew reaches Singapore Badminton Open final for the first time

SINGAPORE – Loh Kean Yew is one victory away from ending the home nation’s 16-year drought at the Singapore Badminton Open after a 21-15, 15-21, 21-9 win over Japan’s 19th-ranked Koki Watanabe in their men’s singles semi-final on May 30.

After the 63-minute match, the 28-year-old said: “I’m happy. The best thing about this week is I managed to show up every day and play in the entire tournament in front of the home fans.”

In front of 7,220 spectators at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the world No. 14 reached his home final for the first time by winning another three-game encounter.

In the title-decider of the US$1 million (S$1.3 million) KFF Singapore Badminton Open on May 31, he will play ninth-ranked Alex Lanier of France, who beat Indonesia’s world No. 13 Alwi Farhan 21-14, 21-11 in a battle between two up-and-coming 21-year-olds in the other semi-final.

If Loh prevails, he will become the first Singaporean to triumph at the home tournament since 2010 women’s doubles champions Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei.

He would also become the first Singaporean to win the men’s singles title since Wee Choon Seng in 1962. Ronald Susilo was the last Singaporean to reach the men’s singles final in 2002.

Against Watanabe, and indeed throughout the week, Loh showed a new level of maturity and composure.

After taking the opener 21-15, he conceded the second game by the same scoreline after leading 11-9 at the interval.

He found himself trailing 3-0 at the start of the decider and had a point controversially awarded to Watanabe by Sri Lankan umpire Lakpriya Edirisinghe, who ruled Loh had hit the net with his racket instead of hitting the shuttlecock.

But unlike his 2025 world championship quarter-final loss to Canada’s Victor Lai following a contentious call, he responded well to adversity to adapt and executed his game plan with a clear mind.

Buoyed by the home crowd who turned up with clappers, face-cuts and Singapore flags to create an electrifying atmosphere, Loh also produced some mind-boggling retrievals with his lightning pace, reflexes and diving saves to tear through the final game.

He said: “Koki changed his gameplay quite a bit in the second game which caught me off guard and I was too slow to adapt to the changes.

“I always try my best to find a positive response, although it doesn’t look like it because the way I play looks casual and ‘bo chup’ (Singlish for indifferent). It’s also a confidence thing – when I’m confident, everything feels right. When I’m not, everything goes wrong. It’s about how I find the confidence and how I play.

“But this time, the crowd really boosted my play and affected my opponents’ as well. They have been a big factor in my favour all week.”

Earlier, Loh had also required three games to beat each of India’s 37th-ranked Srikanth Kidambi, 35th-ranked H.S. Prannoy and 18th-ranked Taiwanese Chi Yu-jen, taking his playing time this week to 242 minutes. His record in matches that have gone the distance in 2026 has reached an impressive 11 wins and two losses.

National singles assistant head coach Kelvin Ho said he had worked on high-intensity training with Loh since taking interim charge, after former head coach Kim Ji-hyun’s departure in March.

He added: “We have been doing this sometimes with help from the men’s doubles teams in order to train him to execute quality shots in high-intensity situations.”

Additionally, Loh felt that a more relaxed mindset and lowered expectations, following his foot injury at the Thailand Open earlier in May, helped him improve on his previous best finish at the Singapore Open when he reached the semi-finals in 2022.

By reaching the final, he is assured of at least US$34,000 in prize money.

Combined with his US$378,474 in career prize money and S$495,000 from monetary rewards and public donations after his historic 2021 world championship triumph, it would take him past the million-dollar mark in career earnings.

However, Loh is not concerned with all the stats and chatter, preferring to focus on the final.

He said: “If I win, then obviously it’s an honour. If not, I would have done what I can.

“The most important thing is I don’t have any regrets because I’ve pushed myself to the fullest. But I’m not going to think too much about all that. I just want to focus on my preparation and recovery to give it my all.”

Meanwhile, the women’s singles final will be contested between South Korean world No. 1 An Se-young and Japan’s third-ranked Akane Yamaguchi, after both overcame Chinese opponents.

An, the 2023 and 2024 champion, came from behind to beat world No. 4 and defending champion Chen Yufei 20-22, 21-12, 21-15, while Yamaguchi defeated second-ranked Wang Zhiyi 21-13, 17-21, 21-15.