SINGAPORE: Famous badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew will not defend his title after this individual was eliminated in the men’s singles quarterfinals on Friday (Aug 26).
The Singaporean, who is ranked eighth in the world, fell 12-21, 21-17, 8-21 to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn at this year’s competition that is being held in Tokyo, Japan.
Loh is definitely seeded eighth within the tournament, while Kunlavut is the sixteenth seed.
It was the world number 17 Thai who got away to a strong start, as Loh made a series of uncharacteristic errors, not helped with the drift. Kunlavut would certainly then take a five point lead entering the interval and did not look back.
But in the second game, the Singaporean looked fired up and led 11-5 at the break courtesy of several brilliant attacking perform. A run associated with 10 consecutive points would cement their stranglehold on the online game despite an immense comeback from Kunlavut.
The Thailänder would rebound in style in the third plus took a 11-3 lead as Loh struggled. He then closed out the game plus cemented his place in the final four.
This is Loh’s second loss to 21-year-old Kunlavut in 2022. Earlier this year, the boy or girl beat the 25-year-old at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to take gold.
At last year’s World Championships, Loh continued a fairytale operate which saw him upset a number of increased ranked players, including Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen , en route to successful the title.