PUBLISHED ONSeptember 29, 2026 10:59 AMUPDATEDOctober 04, 2026 4:45 PMBYSean LerSingapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew lost the gold medal to World No 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the Asian Games men's singles badminton final on Tuesday (Sept 29).
Loh, 29, lost 12-21, 16-21 to Kunlavut, who held a 8-2 head-to-head record against him going into the final.
During their last meeting at the India Open in January, Loh lost the first game 14-21, before going on to win the next two 21-15, 21-17.
But Loh has still delivered the Republic's best showing in badminton at the Games with the silver medal.
"Tired, and not so happy," he told the media after the match, before thanking fans for their support. "I'm sorry, but thank you for supporting me."
In a Facebook post after the match, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam pointed out that Loh had defeated World No 3 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia to reach the final.
On the loss, he noted that Kunlavut was in superb form.
"Kean Yew was agile in his retrievals and displayed his trademark superfast smashes, but also made unforced errors — it’s sometimes like that when you are competing at the highest level."
President Tharman also left encouraging words on the World No 13's performance, highlighting that at this age, Loh isn't done with fighting at the top.
"And nothing can take away from his winning the World Championships men’s singles title in 2021, and being the highest-ranked Singaporean in badminton in the last 60 years."
Earlier on Monday, he fended off challenge from unheralded South Korean Yoo Tae-bin to book his 11th meeting with Kunlavut.
Loh remains the first male Singapore badminton player to break into the top three of the BWF World Ranking in November 2022 — reaching a career-high ranking of number three.
Singapore's only previous badminton medal at the Asian Games came in 2006, when the women's team won bronze in Doha.
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