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Singaporean Loh Kean Yew has come out tops in Germany after he defeated Malaysian Lee Zii Jia, who had to retire in the men's singles final, with Loh leading 19-21, 21-13,17-12.
The 24-year-old Singaporean badminton player, ranked 39th in the world, beat the Malaysian, ranked eighth in the world, to win his first career Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 500 title on Sunday, Nov. 7.
In October's French Open, Loh had also beaten Lee, and did so in straight games in the opening round of that tournament.
Lee was seeded second in the men's singles at the US$320,000 (S$431,000) Hylo Open tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany.
Tough match
The match between the two, who are childhood rivals back in Malaysia, was a fierce back and forth contest, which Loh came out tops after many hard earned points.
In the final game, the Malaysian was forced to retire after picking up a back injury.
Loh was leading at that point.
Had to beat players ranked higher than him
Loh won US$24,000 (S$32,400) in prize money and 9,200 ranking points.
To be the champion in Germany, Loh had to defeat four other players ranked higher than him in the world rankings.
Loh beat Chou Tien-chen (Taiwanese world No. 4), Toma Junior Popov (France world No. 35), Rasmus Gemke (Denmark world No. 13) and Lakshya Sen (India world No. 21).
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