Singapore Open: One Triumph from Immortality
For years, the Singapore Open has felt a little like unfinished business for Loh Kean Yew.
· PREM KUMAR
The 2021 world champion, the hometown hero thousands come to watch – yet the tournament that mattered most to locals had never quite yielded the breakthrough moment. Not until now.
On Saturday night, under the roar of a packed Singapore Indoor Arena, Loh defeated Japan’s Koki Watanabe 21-15 15-21 21-9 to become the first Singaporean men’s singles finalist in 24 years.
The last was Ronaldo Susilo in 2002; to find the champion, the clock must be wound all the way back to 1962, when Wee Choon Seng lifted the title. Since then, generations have waited for a homegrown winner.