Singapore’s former world champion Loh Kean Yew pulled off an upset to advance to the Olympic badminton men’s singles quarterfinals after defeating China’s Li Shifeng on Thursday.
Loh, who achieved an incredible BWF World Championships triumph in 2021, entered the round of 16 tie as the underdog against world No. 6 Li.
But the Singaporean — currently ranked 13th in the world — would rise to the occasion to beat Li with a 23-21 21-15 triumph.
Although Loh led 4-2 in their head-to-head record heading into the match, Li had won their past two encounters.
With the victory, Loh will at the very least equal the best finish by a Singaporean in the Olympics badminton tournament — after Ronald Susilo achieved the same back in 2004.
Next up for the 27-year-old is a quarterfinal clash with second seed Viktor Axelsen, a tie made all the more intriguing given his friendship with the Dane — with the duo regularly sparring with one another in training sessions.
Axelsen received a bye in the round of 16 and is the reigning Olympic men’s singles gold medallist, although he is currently second in the world behind China’s Shi Yuqi.
Meanwhile, there was almost double joy for Singapore but it was ultimately not to be as Yeo Jia Min narrowly fell short in emulating Loh by pulling off a big upset against Aya Ohori — ultimately falling to a 21-11 14-21 22-24 defeat.
Yeo had done remarkably well to take the first game but Ohori, ranked 10th in the world and ten places higher, eventually steadied.
In a thrilling encounter, the valiant Yeo saved two match points but Ohori would claim the victory after a forehand shot from the former landed wide.
In a testament to how gruelling the encounter was, both players collapsed to the floor after the winning point and looked close to tears — Ohori in relief, and Yeo in despair.
