Loh Kean Yew stuns China’s world number 1 Shi Yu Qi, through to Badminton Asia Championships semis

SINGAPORE: Former world champion Loh Kean Yew upset world number 1 Shi Yu Qi on Friday (Apr 11) and progressed to the men’s singles semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships.

At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, the world number 17 Singaporean beat the tournament favourite and top seed 21-19, 13-21, 21-16.

In a tight first game, Loh went behind 10-11 at the interval, but pounced on a number of errors from Shi late on to go ahead.

But it was a different story in the second, as a dominant Shi cranked up the tempo and took an 11-1 lead.

While the Singaporean reduced the arrears, his opponent had built up too much of a lead to be troubled.

It was Loh’s turn to take the initiative in the decider as he raced to an 11-3 lead, with Shi looking tired.

Despite the Chinese player narrowing the deficit to as little as three points, Loh weathered the storm and registered an impressive result.

This is Loh’s first victory over Shi since a French Open victory in 2023.

Earlier this year, Loh was eliminated by eventual tournament winner Shi in the All-England quarter-finals. Shi also won the Malaysia Open in January.

Loh's best finish this year was a finals appearance at the German Open last month, where he lost to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

Loh, who is Singapore’s only representative left in the competition, will next face Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-finals. The tournament third seed has a 6-1 head-to-head record against Loh, who last beat him a decade ago.

World number 22 Jason Teh was eliminated in the first round of the competition while Singapore’s top women’s singles player Yeo Jia Min withdrew from her match with South Korea’s Kim Ga-eun due to injury.

In the doubles, all of Singapore’s representatives were