Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Anthony Ginting beats Loh Kean Yew for gold in one-sided final
Singapore's 2021 world champion, the first player from his country to reach the Asian Championships final, is defeated in 28 minutes by Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 12–21 8–21.
Badminton
Loh Kean Yew suffered a straight-games defeat but made history as the first Singaporean player to play in a final at the Badminton Asia Championships today (30 April).
The Singaporean's first continental final did not go the way he wanted, losing in quick time to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in Dubai.
Loh, who was world champion in 2021, struggled to get a foothold in the match.
World number two Ginting slowly but surely controlled the opening game 21–12 before dominating the second, reeling off a streak of 11 straight points at one juncture as Loh floundered.
Ginting maintained that advantage for the rest of the second game, sealing the 21–12 21–8 victory in a stunningly fast 28 minutes.
The women's singles final immediately preceding the men's went in favour of the former world number 1 Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei.
Fourth seed Tai proved no match for second seed An Se-young of Republic of Korea, needing just 34 minutes for an easy 21–10 21–14 victory in dominant fashion.
Tai racked off eight points in a row in both games, with an off-form An providing little resistance.
Japan's Fukushima Yuki / Hirota Sayaka won the women's doubles title, seeing off Republic of Korea's Baek Ha-na / Lee So-hee 21–7 21–14.
Top seeds and heavy favourites Zheng Siwei / Huang Yaqiong suffered a shock upset by Chinese compatriots Jiang Zhenbang / Wei Yaxin in the mixed doubles final. Jiang and Wei sealed a straight-games 21–15 21–16 win over the world number one pair.
The day concluded with the men's doubles final between Malaysians Ong Yew Sin / Teo Ee Yi and India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty, which the Indian pair won.