SINGAPORE - After a 12-year wait, Singapore finally has another crack at the SEA Games badminton men's singles gold.
The Republic's top male shuttler, world No. 30 Loh Kean Yew earned a place in the final after beating Thailand's world No. 13 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 2-1 (16-21, 21-6, 21-9) in the semi-finals at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Manila on Sunday (Dec 8).
The 22-year-old will meet Malaysia's world No. 14 Lee Zii Jia in Monday's final after Lee beat Thailand's Sitthikom Thammasin 2-0 (21-12, 21-9) in the other semi-final. In 2015, Loh had won a joint-bronze in this event.
Singapore last snagged a SEA Games badminton gold medal in 2011 when Fu Mingtian won the women's singles event in Indonesia.
In 2007, Kendrick Lee made it to the men's final in Thailand but lost to former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat.
The last time Singapore won the men's singles gold was before Loh and Lee were born, when Wong Shoon Keat accomplished the rare feat on home soil in 1983.
