NEW DELHI — Singapore badminton star Loh Kean Yew’s bid for another BWF World Championships medal has ended — and once again, the player standing in his way was Canada’s Victor Lai.
Loh, the 2021 world champion, was beaten 20-22, 18-21 by seventh-ranked Lai in the men’s singles round of 16 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. The match lasted 52 minutes.
The defeat is particularly painful because it repeats a result from last year’s World Championships. Loh also lost to Lai in the 2025 quarter-finals, with the Canadian winning by the same 22-20, 21-18 scoreline.
A rematch that turned into another upset
Loh entered this year’s tournament ranked 13th in the world, while Lai had climbed to No. 7 after a remarkable year that has transformed him from a promising outsider into one of the sport’s leading men’s singles players.
The Canadian’s rise has been dramatic.
At the 2025 World Championships, Lai became Canada’s first-ever badminton world championship medallist, taking bronze in Paris.
He has gone even further in 2026.
In June, Lai won the Indonesia Open, becoming the first Canadian men’s singles player to capture a BWF World Tour Super 1000 title. He defeated Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the final, 21-19, 21-8.
That breakthrough helped establish Lai as a genuine threat rather than the surprise package he was a year earlier.
Loh had fought his way into the last 16
Loh’s elimination came one day after he produced a determined comeback against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.
The Singaporean lost the opening game 15-21 but recovered to win the next two 21-17, 21-15, securing his place in the last 16.
His first-round campaign had also begun positively, with Loh defeating Canada’s Brian Yang 21-14, 22-20.
But Lai presented a much tougher challenge — one that Loh had already experienced on the biggest stage.
From world champion to another early exit
Loh remains one of Singapore’s most decorated badminton players.
In 2021, he shocked the badminton world in Huelva, Spain, becoming the first Singaporean to win a BWF World Championships men’s singles title. His run included victories over former world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and world No. 3 Anders Antonsen before he defeated India’s Kidambi Srikanth in the final.
Since then, however, another world title has remained elusive.
The latest defeat means Loh will leave the 2026 championships without a medal, while Lai advances to the quarter-finals and continues his extraordinary rise.
Why this defeat matters
This is more than another loss on Loh’s record.
Lai has now defeated Loh at two consecutive World Championships, suggesting that their rivalry may be developing into one of the more intriguing individual matchups in men’s badminton.
The contrast between the two players is also striking.
Loh is an established former world champion who has already made history for Singapore. Lai, meanwhile, is still building his legacy — but his results are arriving rapidly.
His 2025 bronze medal was historic for Canada. His 2026 Indonesia Open triumph was another first. Now, he has eliminated Loh from the World Championships for the second straight year.
And this time, he did it as the world No. 7, rather than the unheralded player ranked outside the top 50 who stunned Loh in Paris last year.
The bigger picture for Singapore badminton
Loh’s exit also comes during a challenging World Championships campaign for Singapore’s men’s singles players.
Jason Teh also bowed out after a spirited battle with world No. 3 Jonatan Christie, meaning Singapore’s hopes in the men’s singles draw have taken another major blow.
For Loh, the immediate focus now shifts from defending his World Championships reputation to rebuilding momentum for the remainder of the season.
For Lai, however, the question is much bigger:
How far can Canada’s newest badminton star go?
A year after shocking Loh as an outsider, Lai has returned as a top-10 player, a Super 1000 champion and now a World Championships quarter-finalist.
The upset of 2025 may no longer look like an upset.
It may have been the beginning of a changing of the guard.
Leave a Reply