Buoyed by home crowd, Loh Kean Yew advances into Singapore Badminton Open round of 16

SINGAPORE – After an intense 63-minute battle against Srikanth Kidambi in the round of 32 at the KFF Singapore Badminton Open on May 27, home favourite Loh Kean Yew remained on court for another five minutes.

Taking the time to acknowledge the fans in the stands, the 28-year-old posed for wefies and tossed several shuttlecock plush toys into the crowd.

Although it was only the first round, 6,840 spectators showed up at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on the Hari Raya Haji public holiday, compared to 3,820 the previous day.

Backed by a partisan crowd chanting his name and cheering “Go Singapore”, world No. 14 Loh overcame his 37th-ranked opponent 22-20, 19-21, 21-17 to book his spot in the round of 16.

He said: “I’m very thankful for the crowd – previous years and matches also – so I’m very thankful for their support.”

Loh had faced Srikanth at the same stage in the previous two tournaments. While his Indian rival had won their most recent encounter at the Thailand Open a fortnight ago, Loh was victorious when they met at the Badminton Asia Championships in April – and their familiarity showed.

The opening game began in neck-and-neck fashion as they traded leads, with the Singaporean taking a slender one-point advantage into the interval.

After the restart, he stretched his lead to four points, but Srikanth fought back to edge ahead 20-19.

But Loh held his nerve to save the game point and clinch the opener 22-20.

The second game was equally tight, with neither able to open up more than a three-point gap.

Srikanth then worked his way to a 20-17 lead, before Loh rescued two game points to narrow the deficit.

In the next point, Loh protested when his shot was deemed to be out, prompting the home crowd to chant “In, in, in” as the instant review system assessed his challenge.

But the decision stood, sending the match to an intense decider, where the Singapore shuttler led 11-8 at the interval and maintained his advantage to seal victory.

“Every hall, every place, every match is different, so every time we play a new match, it’s a new start, and we have to go in starting from zero again,” said Loh, whose win took his head-to-head record against Srikanth to 4-2.

He will face another Indian, H.S. Prannoy, on May 28 for a place in the quarter-finals, after the world No. 35 had come from behind to beat Indonesian fifth seed Jonatan Christie 10-21, 21-12, 21-18.

Loh, who had reached the quarter-finals in the last two editions, is the sole Singaporean left in the US$1 million (S$1.3 million) event, after Yeo Jia Min and Jason Teh bowed out earlier in the day.

Yeo lost 21-16, 21-11 to reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, while 29th-ranked Teh fell 21-19, 21-15 to Chinese Taipei’s 18th-ranked Chi Yu-jen.

A day earlier, men’s doubles pair Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo had fallen 21-14, 21-12 to Indonesia’s world No. 7 Sabar Gutama and Reza Isfahani.

While Yeo gave Yamaguchi a good fight, holding a five-point lead over the world No. 3 four times in the first game, she could not sustain her momentum.

The second game was made more challenging for her when she injured her left knee towards the end, which she later said felt like a sprain.

“She’s (Yamaguchi) just consistent and she maintained a genuinely good level, and I’m just a bit up and down, so that’s something that I need to work on,” said Yeo.

“I’m still working my way up in terms of speed, confidence, everything. So I just take whatever good points that I can today and hopefully, it’s not that bad an injury.”

It has been an injury-laden past year for the world No. 38, who had an Achilles issue and torn hamstring in her right leg in 2025. In April, she underwent a procedure on her right knee.

She said: “In training, I feel my speed has definitely dropped and I’m not as quick as I was before going into competitions.

“So I know I’m not at my best, but I still have to compete, if not my ranking points will keep dropping.”

Yeo also believes she will need to manage her expectations, and “not get affected even if I lose”, adding: “So I just keep challenging myself and taking every day the best I can.”

With his third straight round-of-32 exit since his Polish Open triumph in March, Teh admitted it has been difficult to achieve consistency since the departure of national singles head coach Kim Ji-hyun in March.

The 25-year-old said: “Now I can play well in one tournament and the (next) few tournaments I can lose in the first round, so I don’t really know what to do, but I will keep working and find a way to come back strong.”

Kim’s absence has also been felt by Yeo, and Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) head of pathway and performance Vanessa Neo said the federation is in the midst of interviewing shortlisted candidates for the singles head coach position.

She said: “Our top singles players are familiar with Kelvin Ho, current assistant head coach, who had trained and travelled with them prior to coach Kim Ji-hyun joining SBA, and he is more than capable of overseeing the singles training for the next few months.”

On the players’ performances, she said: “We are proud of Kean Yew’s gritty three-game victory today over an opponent he lost to at the Thailand Open earlier this month, with Ho and sparring partner Vega Nirwanda by his side.

“We believe our players have the sufficient maturity to adhere to a rigorous training regime, and are always committed to performing their best at every tournament.”

Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn and China’s Chen Yufei, the respective men’s and women’s defending champions, both progressed to the next round with wins on May 27.

Kunlavut beat Belgium’s Julien Carraggi 21-8, 21-18 and will next meet Lakshya Sen of India, while Chen, who came from behind to beat Malaysia’s Letshanaa Karupathevan 19-21, 21-15, 21-17, will face 21-year-old Japanese Hina Akechi in the next round.