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.

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29 Sep 2026 06:51PM (Updated: 29 Sep 2026 06:58PM)

NAGOYA: Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew took silver in the Asian Games badminton men’s singles after losing to Thailand’s world number 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn on Tuesday (Sep 29).

At the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, Kunlavut 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 number 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.

He entered Tuesday's final with a 2-8 head-to-head record against Kunlavut, although Loh had won their most recent meeting in January.

The Thai won the men’s singles world title in 2023, and followed that up with an Olympic silver a year later. He also beat Loh in the men's singles final at the SEA Games in 2022.

Unseeded at the Games, Loh had been in excellent form throughout the competition. 

He started his campaign on Saturday by beating world number 14 Lakshya Sen before seeing off Malaysia's Justin Hoh in the round of 16.

His breakthrough came in the quarter-finals, when he snapped a 10-match winless streak against Christie to guarantee Singapore its first Asian Games badminton medal in 20 years.

Loh then beat South Korea’s Yoo Tae-bin in 69 minutes in the semi-finals to book his place in Tuesday's final.