Singapore: Newly-crowned badminton world champion, Loh Kean Yew has received a hero’s welcome back home after his impressive run at the 2021 BWF World Championships in Huelva, Spain, last Sunday.
Few would have predicted the current World No. 15 (Loh was ranked World No. 22 before winning the World title), would knock out World No.1 Viktor Axelsen 14-21, 21-9, 21-6 in the first round, World No. 21 Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the third round, World No. 3 Anders Antonsen in the semi-finals and finally World No. 10 Kidambi Srikanth in the final to clinch the world title.
The Changi Airport gave Loh a special welcome, with a water cannon salute when his flight landed at the airport on Tuesday.
The last time a badminton player received this type of greeting was Kevin Cordon of Guatemala. The Guatemalan government gave his flight a water cannon salute after he brought immense pride to his homeland by advancing to the Tokyo Olympics men’s singles semi-finals.
In his first-ever press conference with Singaporean media, Loh said that he’ll keep working hard and try to get better in a future tournament.
(source: CNA)
“There are still many things I need to improve, compare to those top players, such as Viktor and Kento,” said Loh.
“Their shots are much more consistent, and they’re still a lot of things I need to work on, such as mental toughness and how they handle all the pressure,” added Loh.
“It’s just a new beginning for me because I have been an underdog. But now, people will be studying my playing style, it’s going to be a different mindset,” explained Loh.
“It’s going to be a big challenge for me going forward, and I can only learn how to handle this pressure when I am playing during the competition.”
Loh also thanked his coach, Kelvin Ho, for his support in working through each step of their journey since 10 years ago to eventually winning the world champion.
“I would like to thank Kelvin to company me through the ups and downs. Without Kelvin, I wouldn’t be able to win the title for sure,” said Loh in front of Singaporean media.
In another interview with The Straits Times, Loh was asked that there were a lot of comments on social media discussing that Loh is not really a Singaporean because he was born in Malaysia.
“I just play badminton, I just do what I can to make Singapore proud,” answered Loh.
Loh was indeed born in Malaysia, and he was selected to study and play for Singapore when he was 13. However, based on what BadmintonPlanet.com noticed on social media, a lot of badminton enthusiasts in Malaysia actually were proud of Loh’s achievement, because everyone in Malaysia knows that a talent like Loh Kean Yew would only go to waste if he remained in Malaysia. One good example was the 2014 Youth Olympic Games mixed doubles gold medalist, Cheam June Wei, who is also 24-year-old, and he had already retired from the Malaysian badminton team and competing as an independent player.
We will write a completely separate article to discuss this topic on another day, but today, BadmintonPlanet would like to congratulate Loh Kean Yew again for his achievement!
