Badminton: World Champion Loh Kean Yew's winning streak ends with narrow loss in India Open final

The match lasted around an hour.

Ashley Tan | January 16, 2022, 08:57 PM

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Badminton World Champion Loh Kean Yew's winning streak ended in the 2022 India Open on Jan. 16.

Loh, who is currently ranked No. 15 in the world, lost to India's Lakshya Sen, World No. 17, 24-22 and 21-17.

The match lasted around an hour.

Sen will receive US$30,000 (S$40,433) in prize money for this win.

He is the first Indian player to win this tournament on his debut.

As the runner-up, Loh will receive US$15,200 (S$20,486) in prize money.

Loh advanced through semi-finals with walkover win

Loh has faced Sen before in the Dutch Open in October 2021, beating the 20-year-old in two straight sets in 36 minutes.

To get to the India Open finals, Loh defeated Malaysia's Soong Joo Ven 21-12 and 21-12 in 33 minutes in the quarter-finals.

He then comfortably advanced through the semi-finals when his Canadian opponent, Brian Yong, withdrew from the tournament after falling ill.

Trained with Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen

Prior to the India Open, the 24-year-old was training with World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in Dubai.

After Loh clinched the World Championship title in a historic win in Huelva, Spain, on Dec. 19, he returned to Singapore for a short break over the New Year period.

Since then, Singaporeans and foreigners alike have rallied behind Loh upon the realisation that he did not receive any cash prize from his win.

As of the time of writing, members of the public have raised S$367,278 on the Ray of Hope platform as a form of encouragement.

Meanwhile, a Chinese-Indonesian palm oil tycoon contributed another S$200,000 through the family's charity arm, the Karim Family Foundation.

Win for Singapore mixed doubles pair

Husband and wife pair, Terry Hee and Tan Wei Han, also took home first place in the mixed doubles final.

Hee and Tan won 21-15 and 21-18 in a 40-minute match against Malaysia's World No. 40 Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei.

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