Loh Kean Yew is first S’porean to reach Asian Games badminton final, one win from gold

NAGOYA – In the past week, Loh Kean Yew has kept the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium audience entertained by his game play and celebrations, as he mimicked One Piece manga character Monkey D. Luffy.

Aptly donning a white jersey and headband on Sept 28, he channelled Luffy’s most powerful “Gear Fifth” state and skipped happily as he continued his historic run at the Asian Games.

With a 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 win over South Korea’s Yoo Tae-bin in the men’s singles semi-finals, the 29-year-old became the first Singaporean to reach a badminton final at the Asiad.

The world No. 13 will face second-ranked Kunlavut Vitidsarn in a title-decider between two close friends on Sept 29.

The Thai, who had beaten Indonesia’s 10th-ranked Alwi Farhan 21-13, 21-15 in the other semi-final, has a superior 8-2 head-to-head record over the Singaporean, who won their last meeting in the India Open quarter-finals in January.

“Kunlavut’s a strong player, and everyone knows it,” said Loh. “On paper for sure, he is going to be the favourite – he is higher ranked and has the better record. I’m going back to rest, prepare myself to the fullest, and fight for each point tomorrow.”

Pledging to go for gold against the 25-year-old, who beat him in the SEA Games final four years ago, Loh added: “For sure I can push... I’m just going to give it my all out there tomorrow and hope for the best.”

Backed by fans who clapped and slapped the plastic chairs as they chanted “Sin-ga-pu-ra”, Loh showed he was able to scrap in the semi-final against 1.86m Yoo, who was ranked outside the top 100 as recently as September 2025.

At these Games, the 46th-ranked giant-killer had eliminated Taiwanese Lin Chun-yi (No. 11), China’s Shi Yuqi (No. 6) and Japan’s Kodai Naraoka (No. 7) in the earlier rounds.

With South Korean supporters yelling “Daehan Minguk” and “Yoo Tae-bin fighting”, the underdog with the black leggings capitalised on his 11cm height advantage to unleash his booming smashes as Loh struggled to lift well against the drift.

But with impressive patience and tenacity to look for more attacking opportunities from the net, Loh emerged victorious from his first meeting with the 22-year-old, albeit with plastered fingers, scraped knuckles and knees, and a blood-stained top.

“He’s been playing well recently to beat many higher-ranked players along the way. I’m 29, an old man, and he’s a rising star, so he’s like a boy to me,” said Loh with a laugh.

“Unheralded players like him are very confident as he has been beating a lot of strong players. There are a lot of shots that seem impossible to return, but they can do so with quality, and it just eats into the mind of the higher-ranked player.

“Maybe my experience helped me. I just tried to keep fighting to get more points.”

Earlier in the competition, Loh had beaten Indian world No. 14 Lakshya Sen, 48th-ranked Justin Hoh of Malaysia and world No. 1 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.

At his Asiad debut in China three years ago, he went home after defeats in the first hurdles of both the men’s singles and team events, but is assured of at least a silver medal this time around.

Previously, the only time Team Singapore stood on an Asian Games badminton podium was when the women’s team won bronze in 2006.

With Luffy having only five gears, does Loh have another gear and celebration planned for the final?

Cheekily, he teased: “If I win, then you’ll see... I have something very suitable. But if I lose, you’ll never know and I can never show it.”

In the women’s singles, South Korea’s defending champion and world No. 1 An Se-young continued her seemingly unstoppable run on Sept 28, when she beat China’s fourth-ranked Chen Yufei 21-5, 21-12 for her 55th win in 56 matches – 48 of them in straight games – in 2026.

In the Sept 29 final, the 24-year-old will meet Japan’s world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi, who beat China’s second-ranked Wang Zhiyi 21-11, 22-20 in the other semi-final.

An said: “Today, I played every shot with confidence. There were quite a few good-looking plays as well. My strength is my defence, so when I pull it off in attack, I find out I can do that as well.

“Since the last Games, I’ve grown more than I expected. I am much calmer and more confident.”

Shut out of the singles finals, China will contest all the doubles finals, with top-ranked Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning playing South Korea’s Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na in the women’s doubles.

World No. 3 Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang will face Indonesia’s 46th-ranked Leo Carnando and Daniel Marthin in the men’s doubles, while third-ranked Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin take on Indonesia’s world No. 15 Amri Syahnawi and Nita Marwah in the mixed doubles.