Loh Kean Yew, Yeo Jia Min missing just one piece of jigsaw to reach next level, say ex-national champs

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s badminton aces Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min need just one last piece of the jigsaw to be competitive at the top of their sport.

That is the opinion of the Republic’s badminton icons Wong Shoon Keat and Ronald Susilo, who were speaking on the sidelines of the National Open Championships at the OCBC Arena on Jan 17.

Wong, who remains Singapore’s only male shuttler to have won the SEA Games gold when he triumphed in 1983, believes that all Loh needs are top sparring partners if he is to become a world-beater again.

Loh attained a career high of world No. 3 almost a year after winning the 2021 world championships. The 27-year-old is currently ranked 13th.

Wong, 67, said: “The only reason that he became a world champion was because he was training with Viktor Axelsen in Dubai. Here in Singapore, you don’t have these types of sparring partners.

“He needs somebody that can really help to push him up to a higher level. So I think the SBA (Singapore Badminton Association) is now looking for somebody to be able to help him to raise his standard.

“He is still the No. 1 in Singapore, but you don’t have anybody close to him. The second or third player, their standard is too far from him.

“I think Kelvin Ho (former national singles coach) has done a good job but, to go up to another level, they need somebody else to help him.”

Wong’s son Derek, who won a men’s singles silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, believes that Loh’s style of play can still cause problems for his opponents.

The 36-year-old said: “Players are scared of his speed and his endurance on court. He’s also quite famous for his jump smashes. So those are his weapons he must keep refining.”

On Jan 17, Loh lost 21-19, 13-21, 21-8 to Olympic champion Axelsen in the India Open quarter-finals in New Delhi.

At the Paris Games, Loh had also fallen to Axelsen in the last eight, as he equalled the best result by any Singaporean at the Games.

Previously, Susilo (men’s singles, Athens 2004) and Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia (women’s doubles, Beijing 2008) also reached the quarter-finals.

Yeo, meanwhile, suffered an agonising last-16 defeat in Paris, but has since reached the quarter-finals in seven out of her last nine tournaments, most recently at the India Open, where she lost 21-11, 21-12 to world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea on Jan 17.

Susilo believes that Yeo needs just a confidence booster to achieve a breakthrough. The 25-year-old, who has set herself a target of breaking into the world’s top 10, reached a career-high No. 12 on Jan 5.

Susilo, 45, said: “It may seem that she’s about there, but still hasn’t made it. She just needs one boost, maybe to go into a semi-final or final, then the confidence levels will go up, and she will start winning.

“On the day itself, maybe she can beat a good player, but whether she can last throughout the whole competition, that’s another thing.”

When asked about the SEA Games in Thailand in December, Susilo said that it is the “best chance” to win a gold, as most countries are now sending their second-string players.

“Like Malaysia, their No. 1 is Lee Zii Jia, and I don’t think he will play in the SEA Games. So, actually, it’s a very good chance now to win,” he added.

Reflecting on his SEA Games title 42 years ago, Wong Shoon Keat, who beat Indonesia’s Hastomo Arbi in the final, said his fitness was key.

“I didn’t expect to win the competition. My coach told me, ‘Just go there and do your very best’. I trained very well and trained very hard, and I was very fit,” he said. 

The Wongs and Susilo were honoured at the national championships’ Parade of Champions, organised by the SBA as part of its SG60 celebrations. Besides the trio, other former national champions Hamid Khan and Jessica Tan were also recognised for their feats.