Highs and Lows: Loh Kean Yew’s road to the Paris Olympics badminton quarter-finals

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Loh Kean Yew staged an upset by defeating China's world No 6 Li Shifeng on Thursday (Aug 1), setting up a tantalising quarter-final clash with Denmark's world No 2 Viktor Axelsen.

In the process, Loh also became the first Singaporean in two decades to reach the last eight at the Olympics.

CNA traces Loh's career, from his beginnings as a Singapore Sports School student to now Olympics quarter-finalist.

Loh was 13 when he arrived in Singapore from Penang in 2010, after receiving a scholarship from the Singapore Sports School to study and train as a student-athlete.

He had followed in the footsteps of his elder brother Kean Hean, who had secured a scholarship at Monfort Secondary.

On the decision to send his younger son away, Mr Loh Pin Keat said: "It’s never easy. You miss your son growing up, you’re always worried if he is sick, so worried."

While the separation was difficult for his parents, they took comfort in the network of friends and family members in Singapore, who looked out for the two brothers.

As Loh honed his craft in Singapore, he took up citizenship, and served his National Service from 2016 to 2018 . 

Then came his breakthrough. 

In 2019, Loh - then ranked 125th in the world - stunned the badminton world by beating Chinese superstar Lin Dan at the Thailand Open final. It would signal the start of bigger things to come.

On Dec 19, 2021, Loh sealed his place in the history books, by becoming the first Singaporean to win a BWF World Championships title.

World No 22 at the time, he defeated India’s Kidambi Srikanth 21-15, 22-20 in the final in Spain.

Along the way, he stunned heavyweights Axelsen and Anders Antonsen, ranked No 1 and No 3 in the world at the time.

Loh had gone into the tournament in