Loh Kean Yew into Asian Games badminton final — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Loh Kean Yew beat South Korea's Yoo Tae-bin 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 in a 69-minute semifinal at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium to become the first Singaporean to reach an Asian Games badminton final
- Yoo Tae-bin, ranked 46th in the world and unseeded, had stunned Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-yi (world #11), China's Shi Yu Qi (world #6) and Japan's Kodai Naraoka (world #7) en route to the last four
- Loh Kean Yew will face Thailand's world #2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in Tuesday's final; Loh trails 2-8 in head-to-head meetings but won their last clash in January in three games
- Loh guaranteed Singapore a historic men's singles badminton medal by snapping a 10-match winless streak against world #1 Jonatan Christie in the quarter-finals, after earlier beating India's Lakshya Sen (world #14)
- Singapore's only prior Asian Games badminton medal was the women's team bronze at the 2006 Doha Games
Why it matters: Loh's run clinches Singapore's first-ever men's singles badminton medal at the Asian Games and ends a 20-year medal drought in the sport since the 2006 Doha women's team bronze. Tuesday's final against Vitidsarn is a steep test: Loh is just 2-8 against the Thai and faces the world #2 with a lopsided historical record.
Ask SkimNews
