Singaporean badminton star Loh Kean Yew made history at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after winning the silver medal in the men’s singles event, becoming the first Singaporean to reach an Asian Games badminton singles final.
Loh’s historic campaign ended on Sept. 29 when Thailand’s world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn defeated him 21-12, 21-16 at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Japan.
The 29-year-old had already secured a landmark medal by reaching the final. Singapore’s only previous badminton medal at the Asian Games came in 2006, when the women’s team won bronze in Doha. Loh’s silver therefore became the country’s first individual badminton medal at the continental Games.
Loh reached the final after overcoming South Korea’s Yoo Tae-bin 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 in the semifinals. Earlier in the tournament, he defeated India’s Lakshya Sen and Malaysia’s Justin Hoh before producing a major breakthrough against Indonesia’s former world No. 1 Jonatan Christie in the quarterfinals.
Against Kunlavut, Loh briefly led in both games but struggled to maintain momentum as the Thai player controlled the longer rallies and capitalised on errors. Kunlavut’s victory also made him the first Thai man to win Asian Games gold in badminton singles.
Despite missing out on gold, Loh described the silver as an achievement for Singapore and said representing the country at the Asian Games was a privilege. He also acknowledged that he wanted to improve further, particularly after the demanding final.
The result gives Singapore its strongest individual badminton showing in Asian Games history and marks a major milestone in Loh’s career after his difficult debut at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, where he exited early in both the singles and team competitions.
