Preparing for Paris: What it's like to train with Singapore's Olympic-bound badminton star Loh Kean Yew

SINGAPORE: The work never stops for Singapore badminton player Loh Kean Yew.

A day before our scheduled joint training session in early May, I was told the 2021 world champion was nursing a slight injury which could disrupt plans.

Disappointed? Undoubtedly so. Yet there was a slight sense of relief. Perhaps I had dodged a bullet, or in this case a 400kmh shuttlecock.

But fast-forward 24 hours and I was lying on the floor at Bukit Canberra Sport Hall.

We had trained at about 50 per cent of Loh's usual intensity, but I was close to 100 per cent exhausted.

A "WIN-WIN" SITUATION

With about two months till the Paris Olympics, Loh is in the final stretch of preparations.

The Singaporean booked his ticket to the Games after finishing twelfth in a “Race to Paris” ranking system for the top 16 singles players to secure spots for their countries. 

Now the goal is to propel himself up the rankings to obtain a favourable seeding for the Olympics. To do so, the plan is to compete in a number of upcoming tournaments including the Singapore Open and Indonesia Open.

It has been a year of ups and downs for Loh.

While he ended his 883-day wait for a title, there were also a few first-round exits for the Singaporean, most recently at the Thailand Open as well as Malaysia Masters.

The 26-year-old is also coping with a long-term shoulder issue which worsened in the last one to two months.

Given this "minor injury", national men’s singles head coach Kelvin Ho told me that he's adjusted Loh’s training to dial down the intensity yet ensure he stays sharp.

After a series of warm-up exercises tailored to Loh's needs as well as to help work on his shoulder, we started with a sparring session with members of the Singapore national training squad.

While Loh typically works with full-time sparring partners Vicky Angga Saputra and Vega Vio Nirwanda, Ho had different plans for the day.

He wanted Loh to play "at his own pace" but also for others to have an opportunity to go up against one of the best in the business.

"(This is) so I am able to help them but at the same time keep my training going at a lower intensity," Loh told me after. "It's a win-win situation."

Sparring sessions simulated a game scenario where scores are tied at 16-16 or 18-18, to create a realistic feel of a close contest.

Given that my only experience playing competitive badminton was in primary school more than two decades ago, I was allowed to start at 18-16 and 20-18 up.

I would need three points to "win" the former scenario and one point for the latter.

But any hope of victory was quickly extinguished as Ho uttered the words anyone in my position would dread to hear.

"Make him run."

Off we split into various rotating groups, giving me the chance go up against each of the national training squad members and Loh himself.

Apart from a number of stinging smashes, what struck me within the first five minutes was the pace of proceedings. Even though my opponents were clearly keeping some of themselves in reserve, it was frenetic.

What was particularly eye-opening was how the younger players launched into long rallies with Loh, who is widely acknowledged as one of the quickest players in the game.

While the world No 12 was largely able to fend them off, a number of the youngsters held their own and showed no signs of being overawed.

Meanwhile, as the lights grew brighter, my head got lighter. After a particularly long few points, I found myself at the side of the court close to throwing up.

A 10-minute rest, assisted leg raises and copious gulps of isotonic drink eventually saved the day – and me, from the embarrassment of vomiting on camera.

That said, I did succeed in taking a couple of points off some of the players. But I didn't come close to nicking a single one from Loh.

BUILDING ENDURANCE

In the second part of the session, known as a "multiple" or multi-shuttle drill, Ho fed shuttlecocks across the court for Loh to return.

This allowed Loh to work on his court coverage without having too much impact on the injured shoulder, added his coach.

A "multiple" can also be in the form of a smash and a drop shot combination where Loh will usually need to return 12 to 16 shuttlecocks per set, with about 20 seconds rest in between.

"It's basically (to make one) run. It's endurance training for my legs because the intensity for my sparring (today) wasn't that high so I add on during (the) multiple," said Loh.

For our training, the multiple was a "free" session, which meant that the shuttlecocks would come from anywhere and everywhere.

Loh made it look easy as he got started, flicking returns across the net adroitly and using his quick cross-court footwork to hammer long drives back across the net.

For every two sets of the drill he did, the plan was for me to do one.

While returning the first few shuttlecocks was not a problem, I soon understood how this drill was meant build endurance.

The unpredictability of where Ho served the shuttlecocks meant that I had to always be alert and soon enough, my legs got wobbly.

As we pressed on with more sets, the temptation to give up on chasing the shuttlecock grew. And I succumbed to it a number of times.

But my pride, shouts of encouragement from Ho and Loh and most importantly, my colleague's camera, kept me going.

At the end of the session, I asked Loh how I'd done.

"I thought you would come here and cannot hit at all. But you hit much more than I thought," was his diplomatic reply.  "You did much better than I thought."

All of that was just one session, and it was mind-blowing in how I got to experience up-close the intensity at which badminton is played at the highest level.

It's impossible to get a sense of this on a screen or even watching a match in person, as the top players make it look all too easy.

With the badminton calendar packed with tournament after tournament, players have to maintain this intensity, strive to stay consistent, cope with pressure and deal with changing court conditions among a multitude of other variables.

"It boils down to ... how I enjoy the process while managing all these pressures and expectations," explained Loh.

While the grind continues for him, I'm certainly done with badminton for the foreseeable future.