Singapore's Loh Kean Yew exits BWF World Championships after round of 16 loss to Canada's Victor Lai

SINGAPORE: It was deja vu for Singapore's Loh Kean Yew at the BWF World Championships after falling to Canada's rising star Victor Lai in the men's singles round of 16 on Thursday (Aug 20).

At the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, the world number 13 lost 20-22, 18-21 to world-ranked 7 Lai in 52 minutes. The pair's only meeting prior to Thursday was at last year's World Championships quarter-finals, where the Singaporean lost by the same score to the then-unheralded youngster.

Much has changed for Lai since he clinched bronze in 2025. The 21-year-old is now in the world's top 10, and won the Super 1000 Indonesia Open in June.

In contrast, Loh's best showing in 2026 has been a final appearance at the Super 750 Singapore Open.

It was Lai with the stronger start as his shot consistency and patient approach frustrated Loh. But the 29-year-old former world champion mounted a remarkable turnaround from being down 5-11 at the interval to lead 16-12.

However, several costly errors by Loh let Lai back into the game, and he saw the game through despite the Singaporean saving two game points.

The early exchanges of the second game were much closer as Loh pegged back Lai at 7-7 and once again at 9-9 to lead by two points at the break. 

Loh's lead at 14-10 soon evaporated after a series of returns which went wide, with Lai taking control of the game and then the match.

Lai will next face either Indonesia's third seed Jonatan Christie or Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in the quarter-finals. Christie beat Loh's compatriot Jason Teh in the round of 32.

Loh started his World Championships campaign with a 21-14, 22-20 over world number 37 Brian Yang, and followed that up with a 15-21, 21-17, 21-15 triumph over Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu, who is 21st in the world.