S’pore shuttlers Loh Kean Yew, Jason Teh get off to hot start at BWF World Championships

Singapore badminton ace Loh Kean Yew got off to a fine start at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi on Aug 18, as he chases glory at the tournament he last won in 2021.

In his opening match at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the world No. 13 battled past 37th-ranked Brian Yang 21-14, 22-20, avenging his defeat by the Canadian at the Japan Open in July.

Loh will next face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in the round of 32, after the world No. 21 beat Nguyen Hai Dang of Vietnam 21-17, 21-14.

The 29-year-old started strongly against Yang as he surged to lead 11-6 and 18-10 before wrapping up the first game.

The second game was a much tighter affair, with the gritty 24-year-old opponent keeping pace with Loh to go 10-9 in front, but the Singaporean regained the initiative to build a 14-11 cushion.

Yang fought back to win seven of the next eight points to lead 18-15 and held game point at 20-19.

But Loh dug deep to force his opponent into making errors in the next three points and clinch the round-of-64 clash in 43 minutes.

His 33rd-ranked compatriot Jason Teh joined Loh in the last 32 with a 21-13, 21-18 triumph over Italy’s Fabio Caponio on Aug 18.

After a relatively comfortable first game, the 25-year-old faced a 5-0 deficit to start the second and had to overcome stern resistance by his 104th-ranked Italian foe.

Teh clawed his way back to level the game at 14-14 and clinched the win at the first time of asking after Caponio sent a backhand return long.

His reward will be a daunting matchup against Indonesia’s world No. 3 Jonatan Christie, who brushed aside German Matthias Kicklitz 21-15, 21-14 earlier in the day.

Singapore men’s doubles pair Donovan Wee and Howin Wong are also in action as they face 10th-ranked Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England in a late last-32 match.

The duo had beaten the Philippines’ Solomon Padiz Jr and Julius Villabrille 21-19, 21-11 the previous day.

The other Singaporean pair of Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo will be up against Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen on Aug 19, after their 16-21, 21-12, 21-16 win over Germans Bjarne Geiss and Jones Ralfy Jansen on Aug 17.

In the women’s singles on Aug 18, 2025 runner-up Chen Yufei suffered a scare as she dropped the first game to Hong Kong’s 68th-ranked Happy Lo, but the Chinese world No. 4 regained her composure to secure an 18-21, 21-8, 21-11 victory.

On Aug 17, Megan Lee, Singapore’s sole representative in the women’s draw, was eliminated in the round of 64 after the world No. 117 fell 21-14, 21-7 to 15th-ranked Dane Line Christophersen.