Loh Kean Yew came through a thrilling men’s singles badminton quarter-final at the India Open 2026 on Friday (16 January), beating Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in three sets, 14-21, 21-15, 21-17.
The Singaporean will play Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in Saturday’s semi-final after the Indonesian beat France’s Christo Popov 21-19, 21-19 earlier in the day.
Loh, the 2021 world champion, bested last week’s Malaysia Open champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist Vitidsarn at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi in a tightly contested affair.
Lengthy energy-sapping rallies dominated the first game, with the 2023 world champion Vitidsarn needing just one chance to close it out.
The second game saw Loh take more…