BWF Madrid Spain Masters 2024: Loh Kean Yew saves second round match after emotional “self-fight”
The men's second seed regained his composure to advance to the quarter-finals, while last year's runner-up PV Sindhu cruised to a comfortable victory in the women's singles tournament.
Badminton
Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew had two opponents in the second round at the BWF Madrid Spain Masters 2024 on Thursday (28 March): France’s Christo Popov and his own emotions.
For the first half of his men’s singles match, the 2021 badminton world champion was losing to both.
“There was a couple of points that got me quite furious,” Loh told Olympics.com after rallying back with a two-game victory. “Everybody was controlling their emotions, but I let them in.”
Popov took the lead early in the match and claimed the first game 21-19 with second seed Loh managing to overtake him only twice, by one point.
The same pattern repeated in the second game. Unseeded Popov broke away into a 14-9 lead with Loh scrambling to keep his run for the title alive.
While the Singaporean took the second game 21-17, his celebration was short-lived as he started the third set once again trailing his French rival.
“I’m playing against Christo but definitely there was a lot of self-fighting inside, a lot of fighting against myself,” Loh reflected. “I definitely wasn’t happy just now during the match.”
It was only at the 7-7 point that Loh caught up, after which he put on a dominant show to finish the match with 21-11 on the scoreboard in the third, and book his spot in the quarter-finals against Denmark’s Mads Christophersen.
“He just played better at the end,” Popov told Olympics.com on his opponent's late surge. “He’s a very skilful player, especially with the fast conditions, the fast shuttles, and he’s really better at the net and that made the difference.”
Now eliminated from the men’s singles tournament, Popov will continue the fight in the men’s doubles alongside his brother Toma Junior Popov. The results from the Madrid Spain Masters count towards crucial qualification points for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Sixth seed Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei also trailed his unseeded opponent, Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao, after the first game. Unlike Loh, however, the man who won the Swiss Open less than a week ago was not unable to regain his momentum and fell in straight sets.
As a dejected Lin walked off the court, Leong celebrated a milestone win that boosted his spirits after the Round of 32 elimination in Switzerland.
“Definitely I gained some confidence on it," Leong told Olympics.com. “It is a tough match. The duration is not long, but every point really is fast, so couldn’t get any rest on it."
PV Sindhu set on upgrading runner-up status
In the women’s singles, India’s PV Sindhu cruised to book her spot in the quarter-finals with a 21-14, 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Hsun.
The top-seeded women’s player in the tournament, Sindhu was the runner-up at last year’s edition of the Madrid Masters and is determined to walk away with a victory this time around.
“I hope I continue this run here,” she said after her round of 16 match in the Spanish capital. “Last time I was the runner-up so I hope I can change that and get that medal.”
Paris 2024 qualification is also high up on Sindhu’s mind. While the double Olympic medallist sits a comfortable seventh in the rankings ahead of the 30 April deadline, she is determined not to take her journey to a possible third Olympics for granted.
“It’s just one round at a time, one match at a time,” Sindhu said. “There is time for the Olympics, but before that, I need to be mentally and physically fit.”
Find all the results from the day's action here.
The latter stages of the tournament are available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Paris 2024 Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
BWF Madrid Spain Masters 2024: How to watch on TV and livestream online
You can watch the weekend action from the Madrid Spain Masters 2024 on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Paris 2024 Olympics app for mobile devices (territorial restrictions may apply).
It will also be available on the BWF TV YouTube channel and on various domestic television broadcasters: in Singapore, games can be watched on SPOTV. Check local listings for details.
For fans in Singapore, Madrid is seven hours behind Singapore Standard Time (six hours on Sunday due to the switch to summer time in the European nation).
If you are unable to find a screen to watch the matches, look out for Olympics.com's reports on the results and best of the action from the event.