Loh Kean Yew falls to Kunlavut Vitidsarn in Asian Games final, ends campaign with silver
Loh's silver is the best result by a Singaporean badminton player at the Asian Games.
Loh Kean Yew poses with his Asian Games men's singles silver medal. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
Matthew Mohan 29 Sep 2026 06:51PM (Updated: 29 Sep 2026 10:47PM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST NAGOYA: It was not the fairytale ending that Loh Kean Yew had hoped for, but a historic run for the Singaporean nonetheless after he took silver in the Asian Games badminton men's singles on Tuesday (Sep 29).
At the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, world No 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn beat Loh 21-12, 21-16 in the final. Kunlavut was ranked second behind Indonesia's Jonatan Christie in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) men's singles rankings last week, but rose to world No 1 at the start of Tuesday.
Loh, ranked 13th, became the first Singaporean to win a badminton silver at the Asian Games. Before these Games, Singapore's only medal in the sport was a women's team bronze at Doha 2006.
"I'm happy about it, but at the same time, it is a bit sad that I couldn't get the gold medal as well," he said.
CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less Singapore's Loh Kean Yew and Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn after their men's singles badminton final match at the 2026 Asian Games at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Sep 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon) Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in action against Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn during their men's singles badminton final match at the 2026 Asian Games at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Sep 29, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon) Loh entered Tuesday's final with a 2-8 head-to-head record against Kunlavut, although Loh had won their most recent meeting in January.
"He's a very all-rounded player. He can attack well. He can defend well, and he's very smart when it comes to the tactical play as well," he said at a post-match press conference.
