Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew through to Asian Games badminton final after beating South Korea’s Yoo

NAGOYA: Once a giant-killer himself, Singapore's Loh Kean Yew knows exactly how it feels to have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Armed with that knowledge and experience, the former world champion on Monday (Sep 28) saw off the challenge of unheralded South Korean Yoo Tae-bin in the last four to become the first Singaporean to reach an Asian Games badminton final.

At the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, Loh beat Yoo 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 in what was their first career meeting.

"(Unseeded players on a winning run) are very confident, and there are a lot of shots that are impossible but they can (retrieve) them somehow with quality. It eats at your mind," said Loh.

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"They are usually the most dangerous. I played many of these kinds of players, and I was this kind of a player at one moment of my career."

Yoo, ranked 46th in the world, was on a sensational run at the Games, dumping out Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-yi (world number 11), China's Shi Yu Qi (world number 6) and Japan's Kodai Naraoka (world number 7).

"He's confident and he has been beating a lot of stronger players," said Loh of his opponent. "He's a strong boy and I just tried my best to fight for each point."

World number 13 Loh will face Thailand’s world number 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final on Tuesday.

"He's a strong player and everyone knows it," said Loh, who has 2-8 head-to-head record against Vitidsarn. "I'll prepare myself to the fullest, go back and rest today ... and fight for each point."

In their last meeting in January, Loh beat the Thai in three games.

Prior to this edition of the meet, Singapore's only Asian Games medal in badminton was the women's team bronze at the 2006 Doha Games.

In the first game of a 69-minute thriller on Monday, Yoo showed no signs of being overawed by the higher-ranked Loh. He clawed his way back from 4-7 down, but the Singaporean kept his composure to take a two-point interval lead after a trademark smash down the line.

While three straight unforced errors from Yoo allowed Loh to take a 18-12 lead, a late flurry of points saw him come within one point of tying things up, before the Singaporean took the game.

Yoo went up early in the second game courtesy of some fine attacking play and took a 11-8 interval lead. Although Loh fought his way back to level at 19-19, the South Korean took the match to a decider.

But Loh would not let his head drop and he took a five-point advantage at the interval, before booking his place in the final.

Loh has been in fine form since the competition began. 

He started his campaign on Saturday by beating world number 14 Lakshya Sen, and then seeing off Malaysia's Justin Hoh in the round of 16.

His breakthrough came in the quarter-finals when he snapped a 10-match winless streak against world number 1 Jonatan Christie, guaranteeing Singapore a historic men's singles medal in badminton.