Loh Kean Yew mounts superb comeback to stun top seed and reach Korea Open final
Down 4-12 in second game, Singapore shuttler pulls out all the stops to win epic battle against Japan's Kodai Naraoka
SINGAPORE — All seemed lost for Loh Kean Yew when he slumped into a 4-12 hole in the second game of his Korea Open semi-final clash against world No.4 Kodai Naraoka on Saturday (22 July).
The former world champion, however, had other ideas. Launching a superb comeback, the Singapore shuttler roared into his second tournament final of the year with an epic 18-21, 21-16, 21-15 triumph over his Japanese rival at the Jinnam Stadium in Yeosu.
The nail-biting 80-minute battle ebbed and flowed as both shuttlers produced some scintillating shot-making to try and outwit each other. Top-seeded Naraoka, 22, seemed to have the match in the bag as he rattled off eight straight points to take a commanding second-game lead.
However, world No.8 Loh played a much more patient game thereafter and took whatever chances that came to him, and that turned the tide for the 26-year-old as he eventually subdued Naraoka, pumping his fists at the cameras after clinching the match point.
Loh thus advanced into his second final of the year, after the Badminton Asia Championships in April, when he lost to world No.2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting at the final hurdle.
He will face Denmark's former world No.2 Anders Antonsen in Sunday's final. Antonsen defeated China's world No.6 Shi Yuqi 21-16, 24-22 in the other semi-final.
Loh began his Korea Open campaign by beating Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao 21-10, 21-14 in his opening round on Wednesday. In Thursday's round of 16, he faced a tough opponent in China's Zhao Junpeng, but managed to prevail in three games, 21-19, 17-21, 21-6.
On Friday, he avenged his 2022 Commonwealth Games loss to Ng Tze Yong, narrowly defeating the Malaysian 22-20, 21-19 in the quarter-finals to advance to his first semi-final in this season’s BWF World Tour.
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