Loh Kean Yew falls to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, takes Badminton Asia Champs bronze

SINGAPORE: A familiar foe in the form of Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn was former world champion Loh Kean Yew's undoing on Saturday (Apr 12) as he was eliminated from the Badminton Asia Championships.

At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, the Singaporean world number 17 lost 21-23, 10-21 to the tournament third seed and world number five in the men’s singles semi-finals.

The Thai will face China's Lu Guangzu in the final, while Loh finishes with a bronze.

Kunlavut has a 6-1 head-to-head record against Loh, who last beat him a decade ago. At the pair's last meeting at the 2024 Indonesia Open, the Thai took the victory in straight games.

It was Loh who got off to the stronger start of the two as he racked up a 7-2 lead. But the Thai stayed patient through a number of long rallies and went into the interval behind by only one point.

A number of errors from Loh let Kunlavut back into the game and he would take a commanding 18-15 lead. While the Singaporean showed good mental fortitude to take the game to 20-20, he could not hang on.

It was the Thai's turn to get off to a strong start in the second as he took a 11-4 interval lead and saw Loh off with relative ease.

The two are no stranger to each other's game, having trained together on a number of occasions, most recently last month. The 2023 world champion, Kunlavut clinched silver at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Loh's best finish in the Badminton Asia Championships was a silver in the 2023 edition where he lost to Indonesia's Anthony Ginting in the final.

Prior to his clash with Kunlavut, Loh had upset world number 1 and top seed Shi Yu Qi 21-19, 13-21, 21-16.