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PARIS – Sporting a new perm, Singapore’s top badminton player Loh Kean Yew enjoyed a relatively straightforward start to his Paris 2024 Olympics Group M campaign with a 21-13, 21-10 win over Czech Republic’s Jan Louda on July 28. One of the fastest plaBadminton: Loh Kean Yew beats Jan Louda for Paris Olympics opening win
PARIS – Sporting a new perm, Singapore’s top badminton player Loh Kean Yew enjoyed a relatively straightforward start to his Paris 2024 Olympics Group M campaign with a 21-13, 21-10 win over Czech Republic’s Jan Louda on July 28. One of the fastest players on the world tour, the world No. 13 took a short while to get going against his 63rd-ranked opponent in front of a sell-out crowd at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, as he trailed by four points early on and 9-11 at the interval of the opening game. But once his engines were greased, and he started to find his smashing range, it was business as usual as Loh reeled off 11 straight points to take the first game. It was a similar story in the second game, as he tested a variety of strategies to stretch Louda front and back before finding winners through ferocious smashes and delicate net shots. The 27-year-old will play El Salvador’s 50th-ranked Uriel Canjura on July 31 and a win will seal his first appearance in the Olympics knock-out round, where he is likely to face China’s world No. 6 Li Shifeng in the round of 16. Read more