Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew exits BWF World Championships after round of 16 loss to Canada’s Victor Lai

It was Lai with the stronger start as his shot consistency and patient approach frustrated Loh. But the 29-year-old former world champion mounted a remarkable turnaround from being down 5-11 at the interval to lead 16-12.

However, several costly errors by Loh let Lai back into the game, and he saw the game through despite the Singaporean saving two game points.

The early exchanges of the second game were much closer as Loh pegged back Lai at 7-7 and once again at 9-9 to lead by two points at the break. 

Loh’s lead at 14-10 soon evaporated after a series of returns which went wide, with Lai taking control of the game and then the match.

Lai will next face either Indonesia’s third seed Jonatan Christie or Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the quarter-finals. Christie beat Loh’s compatriot Jason Teh in the round of 32.

Loh started his World Championships campaign with a 21-14, 22-20 over world number 37 Brian Yang, and followed that up with a 15-21, 21-17, 21-15 triumph over Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, who is 21st in the world.