Acts of local badminton heroes Yeo Jia Min and Loh Kean Yew provided the dramatic twists and turns to an adrenaline-pumping night at the Singapore Open. They defeated strong competition and moved on to the finals! Those matches just added to their resilience and skills and their crowd favorite status.
World number 11 Yeo Jia Min had faced off against Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Busanan ranks 12th in the world. Yeo had a difficult opening match and was down 10-11 at half-time. She bounced back spectacularly, storming back to win comfortably 21-14 and 21-13 for the win…
Loh Kean Yew, the 10th-ranked player in the world, delivered an electrifying performance. There’s the matter of his matchup against Alex Lanier, the 9th place holder. The high-paced match took place as a 60-minute affair, with Loh building up a four-point lead coming into the halftime break. Having lost an epic second round match, he rebounded to find himself a gold, winning the decider 21-11.
“In the first round, you kind of need to get rid of your nerves. I’m happy I could keep the focus mostly throughout the match and keep the pressure on her.” – Yeo Jia Min
Recalling his bout against Lanier, Loh was quick to mention the comfortability they both have from years of training alongside each other.
The day featured top-ranked Shi Yu Qi against Jason Teh, 24th in the world. Teh fought the good fight, pulling out all the stops in a razor-thin contest. Unfortunately for him, he lost to Shi in the final, with both matches winding up 21-16. Post-match, Teh had some nice words for his fighting spirit, but admitted the difference in quality when facing an opponent of such a high ranked pedigree.
“We were training together for the past week, and even before that we’d trained together before, and we kind of know each other’s game. Overall, it was still a tough match.” – Loh Kean Yew
Looking forward, Yeo Jia Min’s next matchup will be against titleholder An Se Young. As for women’s singles, defending champion and world number one An Se Young has a sparkling 8-2 winning record against Yeo. It’s this documented history that makes things doubly tough for the local player.
“In terms of fighting spirit and my attitude on court, I feel like I’ve already given my all.” – Jason Teh
He further noted,
“But (level of) ability-wise, there is still a gap between me and Shi Yu Qi. Through this match I learnt a lot and I hope to do better next game.” – Jason Teh
Looking ahead, Yeo Jia Min will face An Se Young in her next match. An Se Young, the defending champion and currently ranked world number one, holds an 8-2 winning record against Yeo, adding another layer of challenge for the local player.
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