The final word for LOH Kean Yew

Great opposition in court number 2 with Anthony Sinisuka GINTING (n°5, Indonesia) facing LOH Kean Yew (n°12, Singapore). A replay of the 2023 Asia Championship final in which the Indonesian overplayed his opponent 21/12 21/8. Besides, the 2021 World Champion from Singapore has not beaten the bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics in their last 6 meetings. Can he stop this series of defeats and reach the quarter finals ?  

The players enter the court with a cheering crowd because of the French pair winning their match on the court next-door. The match begins, none of the players wants the other to attack. 11/9 at the break in favor of LOH Kean Yew : it is a patient game.  After the interval, time chosen by the Singaporean player to attack a bit more. A wise choice as Viktor AXELSEN’s sparring partner offers himself 7 game points. He takes the opening game on the fourth time of asking first 21/16. 

The second game starts, and the tactics do not change. However, GINTING’s attitude is a bit different. The 2023 Asian championship gold medalist is more accurate on his shots and faster on his moving. He takes the lead early on the game and never leaves it : 21/18, it’s a deciding game ! Just like a boxing match, the two players never leave the other having a real advantage on the scoreboard. The idea is still to control the net and the flat game as much as possible to prevent the other to take up the attack. Finally, it is LOH Kean Yew who finds the key, enabling him to conclude 21/16. He puts an end to the series of 6 defeats in a row and qualify for the quarter finals against LI Shi Feng (n°4, China) or Lakshya SEN (n°19, India).  

LOH Kean Yew : “Obviously it was a tough play against GINTING. Today it was all about the mental. (…) We are both aggressive players, so I knew it will be tough playing against his attack. I think he thought the same thing about me so that's why we played as much flat game as possible. (…) The atmosphere here is amazing especially when the French players are playing.”