Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew reaches 3rd position in badminton world ranking

Singaporean badminton athlete Loh Kean Yew is now ranked the third-best men’s singles player in the world, according to an update on the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) website on Monday (Nov 7).

He recently competed at the Hylo Open in Germany, reaching the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting. 

Ranked fifth in the last edition of the BWF rankings, Loh amassed a total of 82,874 points and replaced Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, the previous player in third place.

Denmark’s Viktor Axelson remains the top-ranked player, and Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia also sees no change to his position in second place.

This is the first time a Singaporean men’s badminton player has reached the top three positions in the world.

Previously, the highest rank reached in Singapore for men’s singles was sixth, achieved by Ronald Susilo back in 2004.

Aside from being the first female badminton player of Singapore, two-time Olympian Zarinah Abdullah also earned third place in BWF’s world rankings back in 1994.

Currently, Singapore’s women’s singles player Yeo Jia Min stays in 20th place with 50,390 points.

Remaining in the competition for a place at the year-end World Tour Finals, Loh will compete at the upcoming Australian Open, which runs from Nov 15 to 20.