Dubai: The reigning World Champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, has arrived and joined the reigning Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark to kick start their training camp 2.0 in Dubai. The training camp also featured other elite players from around the world such as Brian Yang (Canada, men’s singles, World No. 39), Felix Burestedt (Sweden, men’s singles, World No. 58), and Mathias Thyrri (Denmark, men’s doubles, World No. 45).
Back in September of 2021, one month after the Tokyo Olympics, Loh was invited by Axelsen to join the 1.0 version of the training camp in Dubai. The month-long stint had proved to be a game-changer for the 24-year-old Singaporean as he managed to learn from the world’s best player by going through high-intensity training, which improved his physical and mental strength drastically.
In December of 2021, Loh was unstoppable by stunning Axelsen in the first round of the 2021 BWF World Championships on Dec 12, 2021, before storming into the final and defeating Kidambi Srikanth of India 21-15, 22-20 on Dec 19, 2021, becoming the first Singaporean and the first unseeded player to ever win the men’s singles World Champion title.
Of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day. A video that surfaced on social media a few days ago showed that there’s no shortcut to becoming a world champion as Loh was seen to put a lot of hard work into his training.
(source: BadTalk)
Loh Kean Yew’s underdog story – how he transformed from an underachiever in badminton to become a World Champion was so inspiring that he was nominated for the Singaporean Of The Year 2021 award.
He was among the 10 finalists selected by The Straits Times. Please cast your vote by clicking on the image below to help support Loh who has made a positive impact on others in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic where everyone was overwhelmed by hopelessness and despair.
The online poll will be expired on Jan 7, at 7 pm Singapore time, and the results will be revealed in an award ceremony in February 2022.
