Loh Kean Yew’s coach Kelvin Ho to take over national badminton training squad
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Loh Kean Yew (left) with national singles coach Kelvin Ho at the Paris Olympics.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF KELVIN HO
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SINGAPORE – The winds of change are sweeping through the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA), which is making key coaching and organisational tweaks in a bid for success at the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
The Straits Times understands that national singles coach Kelvin Ho, who has played a key role in the rise of badminton stars Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min, will take over from Taufiq Hidayat as coach of the national training squad (NTS) in early 2025.
His task is to develop the next generation of national players with an eye on the 2032 Games.
After being released as a national player in 2011, Ho switched to coaching and joined the national intermediate squad. In 2018, he was appointed assistant national singles coach, before taking over from Mulyo Handoyo as the national singles coach in April 2022.
Notably, the 34-year-old was in Loh’s corner when he became the first Singaporean to be crowned world champion in 2021.
Under his tutelage, Yeo reached a career-high 16th in the world rankings and the Olympics round of 16 in Paris,
With Ho’s move in 2025, the SBA is on the lookout for foreign candidates to be men and women’s national singles coaches – instead of combining the roles – while continuing with the services of national doubles coach Paulus Firman.
Former national player and two-time Olympian Derek Wong feels that the changes could help Singapore badminton move to the next level.
The 35-year-old said: “This could be a good move as Kelvin has always had a passion to groom young players. The NTS is the feeder squad for the national team, and it is important to equip the NTS players with a strong foundation, which I believe Kelvin can.”
Separating the duties of the men and women’s singles coaches would give players “more attention from a specialised coach”, he added, noting there would be logistics to iron out as both teams currently train under a coach and an assistant.
Wong added: “But overall, this is a good timing to make such a change because there will be three to four years for the new coach to build rapport and chemistry with the national team players, compared to my situation before the Rio 2016 Olympics when there were late changes to the coaching team which would affect any athlete’s preparations.”
The association is also in the midst of its hunt for a new technical director following the departure of Martin Andrew in August, after the Paris Olympics. It is understood that the appointment will be made only after confirming its candidates for singles coaches.
More change is expected, with chief executive officer Alan Ow also set to leave SBA for personal reasons after more than three years at the helm.
Under his leadership, Singapore badminton attained success both on and off the court.
At the ongoing Denmark Open Super 750 event, Loh and Yeo made it to the quarter-finals on Oct 18.
Yeo lost 20-22, 21-11, 21-18 to Indonesia’s Putri Wardani, while Loh saved two match points but also squandered two of his own before losing 21-18, 15-21, 24-22 to French teenager and world No. 21 Alex Lanier.
At the Malaysia Super 100, Jason Teh beat Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul 18-21, 21-9, 21-18 to set up a semi-final against Japan’s Riku Hatano on Oct 19.
Other than the top singles players’ achievements, Terry Hee and Jessica Tan won a historic Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold in 2022,
The SBA also secured major sponsors such as the Karim Family Foundation and JK Technology for the Singapore Open and came up with player development and post-career programmes. It also reopened the Singapore Badminton Stadium at Guillemard Road.
When contacted, an SBA spokesman said details about the changes would be announced soon.
