History made in Huelva

World No. 22 Loh Kean Yew let out a huge roar as he became the first Singaporean shuttler to win a Badminton World Federation World Championships medal after beating India's 32nd-ranked H.S. Prannoy 21-14, 21-12 in their quarter-final in Huelva, Spain yesterday.

In today's semi-finals, he will meet Denmark's world No. 3 Anders Antonsen - who advanced after Malaysia's world No. 7 Lee Zii Jia retired in the decider of their last-eight meeting.

By reaching the last four, Loh is assured of at least a shared bronze.

Against Prannoy, he got off to his trademark explosive start, taking a 3-0 lead after fending off two smashes and winning a 36-shot rally.

But the 29-year-old proved to be a tough customer and bounced back to 11-10, before Loh turned on the afterburners.

Similarly in the second game, they were locked at 8-8 before the 24-year-old Loh stormed home with the historic win in 43 minutes.

Loh, who had matched Singapore's previous best performance - Ronald Susilo's quarter-final run in the 2007 edition - said: "Prannoy put up a strong fight and attacking game, and I had to play good defence.

"I'm super happy to reach my first World Champs semi-finals but now that I'm here, I cannot be satisfied.

"I need to stay focused, recover and prepare well for a tough match against Anders. I know many Singaporeans are staying up to follow my progress. It means a lot to me and I want to thank everyone for their support."

It has been a strong end to 2021 for Loh, who surged 21 places in eight weeks to crack the top 20 before settling in his current spot.

Besides capturing the Dutch Open and Hylo Open titles in the past two months, he also claimed the scalps of Japan's then-world No. 1 Kento Momota (Indonesia Open), reigning All England champion Lee (French Open) and Chinese Taipei's world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen (Hylo Open).

At these World Championships, he stunned Denmark's world No. 1 and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen 14-21, 21-9, 21-6 in the opening round.

He then eased past Austria's 93rd-ranked Luka Wraber 21-4, 21-8 in the second round and then Thailand's world No. 20 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-4, 21-7 in the last 16.

Every remaining match in this event will be a history-making one, and while he has never played Antonsen - whose biggest title was the 2020 season-ending BWF World Tour Finals - before, it will not daunt him, as he has already recorded his first wins over Axelsen, Wraber and Prannoy.

The other semi-final is an all-Indian clash between former world No. 1 Srikanth Kidambi (now No. 12) and compatriot Lakshya Sen, who is world No. 19.

In the women's singles, Taiwanese Tai Tzu-ying also secured her first World Championship medal by defeating P.V. Sindhu 21-17, 21-13 in the last eight.