Loh Kean Yew's giant-killing run ends at hands of Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen
newsare.net
SINGAPORE - In the end, it was one giant too many for national shuttler Loh Kean Yew to overcome as he lost 21-13, 9-21, 21-13 to world No. 2 Viktor Axelsen in the final of the Indonesia Open on Sunday (Nov 28). Loh, the 24-year-old world No. 26, had beatenLoh Kean Yew's giant-killing run ends at hands of Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen
SINGAPORE - In the end, it was one giant too many for national shuttler Loh Kean Yew to overcome as he lost 21-13, 9-21, 21-13 to world No. 2 Viktor Axelsen in the final of the Indonesia Open on Sunday (Nov 28). Loh, the 24-year-old world No. 26, had beaten higher-ranked opponents - most notably world No. 1 Kento Momota - in his run to the final of the US$850,000 (S$1.16 million) Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 event at the Bali International Convention Centre. But 27-year-old Dane Axelsen, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in August, proved too much for Loh to overcome, despite the Singaporean rallying to win the second game after losing the first. Loh said: «I wasn't patient enough throughout the game. I should have been more patient and kept some rallies going instead of trying to kill him… Against Viktor, it's risky.» The loss ended his hopes of becoming the first Singaporean man to qualify for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals next week, also in Bali. A win would have seen him take the place of Thai world No. 22 Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Read more