Newly crowned world champion Loh Kean Yew is proof that if you work hard on your dreams and follow it up with sheer focus and determination, anything is possible.
Coming into this tournament unseeded and not even touted as the top five men’s singles shuttlers to contend for the world title, Loh capped an amazing tournament by beating K. Srikanth 21-15, 22-20 for the gold medal.
In doing so, the 24-year-old Penang-born put Singapore on the world badminton map by becoming its maiden world champion.
Loh was imperious in his 43-minute victory over his Indian opponent who threw everything at him, but nothing could faze the Singaporean who was unbelievably fast, agile, aggressive and sturdy for the complete package.
“At the start of this year I just did not think this would happen. Bangkok (Asian Leg) was a wake-up call after not having a lot of competitions, it told me I was far from the top players.
“So that motivated me to train and prepare for the Olympics. After that I trained with Viktor [Axelsen] and gained experience and I am very happy to achieve this,” he said.
Loh, ranked 22nd in the world, methodically worked his way to the top of the world in a relatively short span of time.
After winning the Dutch Open in October, he swiftly followed that success up with the Hylo Open title in November.
He continued his rich vein of form at the Indonesian Open by beating Kento Momota to the final, and was only upstaged by an excellent Axelsen in that contest.
But nothing was to deter his ambitions to create history for himself and his country.
After beating Axelsen in his opening game, Loh would go on to dominate and dispose of all his opponents in ruthless, straight games fashion.
He would now be mentioned in the same breath as Joseph Schooling, who made history by becoming Singapore’s maiden Olympics gold medalist in 2016.
For the record, Loh represented Penang during his junior days, but moved to Singapore when he was 13 after receiving a scholarship from the Singapore Badminton Association.
