SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Loh Kean Yew’s quest for his first KFF Singapore Badminton Open title came to a heartbreaking end at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 31, when he lost 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 to ninth-ranked Frenchman Alex Lanier in the men’s singles final.
The world No. 14 was bidding to become the first local player to win at the tournament since 2010 women’s doubles champions Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei. He was the first Singaporean to reach the men’s singles final since Ronald Susilo in 2002, but could not match Wee Choon Seng’s 1962 feat of claiming the coveted crown.
En route to the final of the US$1 million (S$1.28 million) tournament, Loh required three games to beat each of India’s 37th-ranked Srikanth Kidambi and 35th-ranked H.S. Prannoy, 18th-ranked Taiwanese Chi Yu-jen, and Japan’s world No. 19 Koki Watanabe.
Despite the backing of a 7,880-strong crowd at the indoor stadium on May 31, Loh could not overcome the final hurdle against Lanier, losing in three sets to the 2025 European champion. Nevertheless, he pocketed US$34,000 to take his career earnings past the million-dollar mark when combined with his US$378,474 in career prize money and S$495,000 from monetary rewards and public donations after his historic 2021 world championship win.
Loh will next feature in the June 2-7 Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 event, in Jakarta.
Meanwhile, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the men’s doubles title at the Singapore Badminton Open 2026 on Sunday to finally end their two-year-long title drought on the BWF World Tour. Satwik-Chirag, currently fourth in the men’s doubles badminton rankings, beat the world No. 3 Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri by an 18-21, 21-17, 21-16 scoreline in the final, which lasted 73 minutes.
This was Satwik and Chirag’s first title on Tour since the 2024 Thailand Open, which was also held in May two years back.
The Indian badminton players, who fell short in three finals in the last couple of years, including at the Thailand Open earlier this month, also became the first doubles team from the country to win the Singapore Open. Previously, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth have won the title but all of these have come in singles.
The Indian duo, who beat reigning world champions Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae - currently the world No. 1 team - in the semis, also levelled up their head-to-head record against Alfian and Fikri to 2-2 with Sunday’s win.
In the other finals, South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young secured her third women’s singles title after victories in 2023 and 2024 by beating Japan’s third-ranked Akane Yamaguchi 21-11, 17-21, 21-19.
The all-conquering 24-year-old, who overcame fever and headache from her semi-final win over China’s defending champion Chen Yufei, said: “Right now, I have some pain in my muscles and legs. I think I have to take rest for one or two days to see what’s happening, but I’m feeling better than yesterday.
“I was a bit in a hurry to try to finish the match as soon as possible but lost the second game. In the last game, I paid more attention to every point, focused better and got the good result.
“There were many people in the crowd cheering me on, so I worked really hard to not disappoint them.”
China’s Jia Yifan also claimed her third women’s doubles title with new partner Zhang Shuxian, following wins in 2023 and 2024 with Chen Qingchen, as the world No. 4 pair edged out top-ranked compatriots Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 22-20, 21-19.
Denmark’s world No. 6 Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje were also repeat winners, adding to their 2023 mixed doubles title after beating Japan’s 18th-ranked Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara 17-21, 21-12, 21-12.
Credits: The Star/ST
