Badminton News: Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew has suffered another demoralizing defeat since winning the world title last December.
This time it was in the Commonwealth Games Mixed Team Championship when the 25-year-old world number 9 lost to Lakshya Sen 18-21, 15-21 in the semi-final against India at the National Exhibition Central Birmingham on Monday.
Singapore eventually lost 0-3 to mighty India, with the other two points going to PV Sindhu (women’s singles) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles).
He also fought Toby Penty in the bronze medal playoff against England yesterday when he had to fight hard to win 23-25, 21-11 and 25-23.
Losing to Lakshya must be hard to swallow as Loh Kean Yew hasn’t quite reached his best form since winning the historic world title in Huelva, Spain eight months ago.
However, his woes on the international stage could open up opportunities for Ng Tze Yong to challenge for a medal on his Commonwealth Games debut.
Tze Yong and Kean Yew are set to face off in the men’s singles quarter-final when individual competition begins today. The winner will probably meet India’s Kidambi Srikanth in the semi-finals.
The battle in the bottom draw group for the final spot is between second seed Lakhsya Sen and Canada’s Brian Yang.
Tze Yong has points to prove after securing an Olympics berth following Lee Zii Jia’s decision to skip the tournament to focus on the world championships in Tokyo.
This is the best platform to justify his position as the number 1 single player in the Badminton Association of Malaysia. Both Tze Yong and Kean Yew were byes in the first round.
The only Malaysian players in action today are Cheah Yee See/Lai Pei Jing in women’s doubles while Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles) and Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing and Chan Peng Soon/Cheah Yee See will only start play until tomorrow.
Tags: Loh Kean Yew, ng Tze Yong, Commonwealth Games 2022
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/menurunnya-loh-kean-yew-peluang-bagi-tze-yong-di-commonwealth-games-2022
