Dubai: Back in the September of 2021 — one month after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore who was ranked World No. 40 at that time, joined the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Viktor Axelsen alongside other players including India’s World No. 24 Lakshya Sen, Canada’s Brian Yang (World No. 43), England’s Toby Penty (World No. 51), Sweden’s Felix Burestedt (World No. 57), and two 19-year-old Danish sparring partners Axel Parkhoi and Marcus Viscovich to train and to spar together in Dubai.
Fast forward to Dec 19, 2021, Loh is now ranked World No. 15 and had become the first Singaporean and first unseeded player to ever win the men’s singles title at BWF World Championships. He defeated World No. 10 Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-15, 22-20 in the final of the BWF World Championships on Dec 19, 2021.
Loh admitted on multiple occasions that the training he had with Axelsen in Dubai (post-Tokyo Olympics) had boosted his self-confidence, and also motivated him to do well at international tournaments.
On Thursday, Axelsen has started his preparation for the 2022 season by posting the message below on his social media pages:
“The work continues 👊🏻 Excited to be back here at @nas_sc training with these guys and to see @mathiasthyrri here while he is spending some time in Dubai over New Years.
Also to our good friend: @lohkeanyew we are ready for you 😎👊🏻😊😆
”
This time, Axelsen also invited World No. 45 men’s doubles player Mathias Thyrri to join him in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Loh Kean Yew had replied to Axelsen’s Instagram post with a comment below:
“Wait for me! I’ll be there soon bro👊🏻😆🔥”.
