Kean Yew And Jia Min Made History

Photo Credit: SG Sports TV's Facebook Page and Badminton Photo

It was a history-making month for alumni Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min at the Hylo Open and Indonesia Open 2021. Alumnus Loh Kean Yew made a historical win at the Hylo Open, claiming his biggest career title after defeating Malaysia’s World No. 8 Lee Zii Jia. Despite losing the first game with 19-21, the World No. 39 got back up quickly to lead in the second game with 21-13. His opponent eventually retired in the third game due to a back injury with Kean Yew leading 17-12.

Earlier on at the Men’s Singles event, the giant killer also shocked World No. 4 Chou Tien-chen, before going on to beat World No. 35 Toma Junior Popov. Kean Yew continued his winning streak in the quarter-finals. He edged past World No. 13 Dane Rasmus Gemke in three games, and defeated World No. 21 Lakshya Sen in the semi-finals to reach the final.

This made Kean Yew the first Singapore male shuttler to win a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 event. The event was held from 2 to 7 November 2021 in Germany.

Kean Yew continued his fine form in the Indonesia Open held in Bali from 23 to 28 November. He slayed World No. 1 Kento Momota in the round of 16, and eventually settled for a second in the finals after putting a strong fight against World No. 2 and Olympic Champion Viktor Axelsen.

Yeo Jia Min also had an exciting few weeks at badminton tournaments. She gave her best against higher-ranked opponent Busanan Ongbamrungphan before settling for the second place after losing to the World No. 14 with 21-10, 21-14 in 35 minutes. At the Indonesia Open, Jia Min was taken out by Japanese World No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi in the second round of the Women’s Singles with 21-15, 19-21, 21-14. However, her eventual ranking as the seventh seed has allowed her to become the first Singaporean to qualify for December’s BWF World Tour Finals, a tournament which features the top eight Singles and Doubles players with the most BWF World Tour points in a calendar year.

With their recent wins, Kean Yew has reached a new career-high 20th ranking in the Men's Singles, up from 41st place just seven weeks ago. Similarly, Jia Min jumped from 30th place to 17th place in the Women's Singles ranking.