Loh Kean Yew enters top 10 of world rankings for the first time at No.9
SINGAPORE — Reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew has reached another major milestone in his badminton career - entering the top 10 in the men's world rankings for the first time.
The Singaporean shuttler was placed at world No.9 in the latest rankings list published by Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday (22 February), a jump of three places after he led Singapore's men's national team to a joint-bronze finish at last week's Badminton Asia Team Championships in Selangor.
During the tournament, the 24-year-old won all but one of his singles matches as Singapore progressed to the semi-finals of the event before losing 3-2 to Indonesia to claim bronze and also qualify for May's Thomas Cup finals. His lone defeat came against Malaysia's world No.7 Lee Zii Jia as the host nation beat Singapore 5-0 in the group stage.
Loh earned 7,106 ranking points after the event, allowing him to leapfrog over Hong Kong's Angus Ng, India's Kidambi Srikanth and Denmark's Rasmus Gemke to world No.9 with a total of 70,506 points. World No.8 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia is at 77,647 points.
Not only is this ranking a career-best for Loh, but it is also the first time a Singaporean shuttler has reached the men's top 10 of the world rankings since Ronald Susilo reached No.6 back in 2004.
It has been a meteoric rise for the Singaporean since October last year, when he was ranked world No.44. Since then, he has enjoyed the form of his life, winning the Dutch Open and the Hylo Open in Germany, before clinching badminton's biggest prize - a gold medal at the World Championships in December.
Denmark's Viktor Axelsen continues to stay top of the world rankings, with Japan's Kento Momota in second spot. Another Dane, Anders Antonsen, is at world No.3.
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