National shuttler Loh Kean Yew ascended the podium at the KFF Singapore Open after six gruelling days of competition and contesting a 74-minute-long final, but only by accident.
The 28-year-old had fallen to Frenchman Alex Lanier in the men’s singles final on Sunday (May 31), losing 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 21-14). Yet during the prize presentation, a mixture of exhaustion and confusion led Loh to briefly take his place on the highest step of the podium despite finishing runner-up.
“I really didn’t know it was the higher one. I forgot, I just went to the nearest one because I didn’t want to walk that much, and was wondering why it was so quiet,” Loh said sheepishly.
“But of course I hope to stand there one day.”
The result meant the 64-year wait for a Singaporean men’s singles champion in the home open continues after Wee Choon Seng’s 1962 triumph.
“It’s quite sad that I didn’t win the gold medal, but I’m still happy to be able to stand on a podium in Singapore,” Loh added.
It was yet another match that went the distance as Loh found himself playing all three games in his fifth consecutive match after getting past India’s Srikanth Kidambi and H.S. Prannoy, Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen and Japanese Koki Watanabe earlier in the week.
But he had the vocal home crowd behind him once again as spectators turned out in force to watch the decider.
Lanier himself enjoyed the atmosphere despite the 7,880-strong crowd largely cheering Loh’s name.
“It’s very good, even though it’s for Loh, I enjoyed all the noise and this sensation when you play… It’s very nice to play in these conditions,” he said.
The pair had faced each other in the same competition last year, where Loh eliminated Lanier in the first round, but it went in the Frenchman’s favour on this occasion.
“I have a lot of respect for Loh. When I first joined the tour, I knew he was a good guy.”
“And straight away, we found a good relation and… we enjoyed practising together, and we joke around with each other,” Lanier said.
But it was full focus for both competitors on centre court as some early jitters saw Loh go behind 6-0 before clawing his way back to 13-13, eventually closing out the game at 21-17 to rapturous cheers of the capacity crowd.
The second game followed a similar script initially, with Lanier pulling away at 13-5, only for Loh to muster six consecutive points, getting as close as 14-13.
“I knew that I needed to fight crazy hard. I needed determination. And I think I lost a little bit myself in the second set,” Lanier said.
“He played a bit better, and I think I was a little bit down mentally. And at that moment, I just thought I could not let him come back so easily. I think I went 100% even more with determination and resilience. And I went point after point,” he added.
But that was the closest Loh would come to the 21-year-old who levelled the tie without giving up the lead.
In the rubber game, Lanier upped the ante and was virtually unbreakable in defence, finding answers to even the fiercest of Loh’s smashes.
And even as Loh saved four match points, the toll of a gruelling week appeared to have caught up with him, as he fell to the ground in exhaustion after Lanier prevailed.
“Honestly, this week has been physically strenuous on me, my body. Before the match, I’ve already been trying to push myself… I went in just trying to push my body to the limit, and I think I did push myself to the limit… I don’t want to show that I’m going to give up; I’m going to fight every point until the end. Even if I’m going to lose, I’m still going to fight,” Loh said.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles final, world No.1 An Se-young triumphed 2-1 (21-11, 17-21, 21-19) in a gripping contest with third-ranked Akane Yamaguchi that went all the way.
Off the back of an unprecedented career sweep for a women’s singles player last month (Olympics, world championships, World Tour Finals, All England Open, Asian Games and Asian championships), the South Korean played through muscle pain in her legs en route to securing her third title at the Singapore Open, but thanked the raucous support for dragging her across the line.
“I am feeling very good because my fans and the crowd were amazing. I think I will come to the Singapore Open again next year,” An said, despite the event being downgraded from a Super 750 to 500.
Jia Yi Fan, who won the women’s doubles competition with Chen Qingchen in 2023 and 2024, paired up with Zhang Shu Xian to beat compatriots Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) in the women’s doubles final.
New winners were crowned in the mixed and men’s doubles with Danish pair Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje coming from behind to beat Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 21-12) while Indian pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy knocked out Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri 2-1 (18-21, 21-17, 21-16) for their first title since the 2024 Thailand Open.
The tour moves quickly to the June 2-7 Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 event.
