SINGAPORE: Former world champion Loh Kean Yew upset world number 1 Shi Yu Qi on Friday (Apr 11) and progressed to the men’s singles semi-finals at the Badminton Asia Championships.
At the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium, the Singaporean world number 17 beat the home tournament favourite and top seed 21-19, 13-21, 21-16.
In a tight first game, Loh went behind 10-11 at the interval, but pounced on a number of errors from Shi late on to go ahead.
But it was a different story in the second, as a dominant Shi cranked up the tempo and took an 11-1 lead. While the Singaporean reduced the arrears, his opponent built up too much of a lead to be troubled.
It was Loh’s turn to take the initiative in the decider as he raced to an 11-3 lead, with Shi looking tired.
