Loh Kean Yew ready for next step at badminton World Tour Finals

It's been a whirlwind 12 months for Loh Kean Yew.

In that time, the Singaporean badminton star has become world champion, reached two other finals, led his country to Thomas Cup Finals qualification, cracked the top three in the world rankings, and qualified for his first career World Tour Finals.

And, on a personal level, he has just won Sportsman of the Year at the Singapore Sports Awards and been nominated as one of international badminton's Male Player of the Year finalists.

"It has not always been smooth-sailing, and there were definitely times when I felt very low last year," Loh admitted recently.

"It's satisfying that after persevering through the lows, I could win this award [Sportsman of the Year]."

Now, Loh heads into the World Tour Finals (7–11 December) in Bangkok, Thailand, as one of the world's best badminton players, and ready to take the next step.

Loh Kean Yew's family sacrifices

When Loh steps out on court in the Thai capital and becomes Singapore's first male player to compete in the tournament, it will be just the latest step in a burgeoning career that has seen a lot of sacrifices – not just from the player, but from his family too.

There were a few factors. With two boys who both took up badminton – Kean Yew's brother Kean Hean also represents Singapore, in men's doubles – money was tight.

"When I started badminton, it was not easy for them to support me and my brother together to go for training because we were not well off," Kean Yew – younger than Kean Hean by two years – told media after receiving his Sportsman of the Year accolade.

But there was another spanner in the works – Loh wasn't born in Singapore. His family hails from Penang, an island state off the coast of mainland western Malaysia, where his parents still live.

Faced with offers from the Singapore Sports School and Malaysia's Bukit Jalil Sports School in Kuala Lumpur, the family chose to send Loh abroad as a child.

"One of the most important sacrifices they made was to send us to Singapore," Loh continued.

"I can't imagine what they went through every day with their children being away from them. That is one of the biggest sacrifices – not being able to spend time with us."

They are sacrifices that have paid off, however.

Loh Kean Yew's friendship and relationship with Viktor Axelsen

Loh has already written his name into the record books, not just in Singaporean sport – his win at the 2021 BWF World Championships made him the country's first badminton world champion – but in his chosen sport.

His budding friendship and training relationship with Olympic and 2022 world champion Viktor Axelsen has helped set Loh up too.

The pair have had multiple training stints together in Dubai, and it seems to have paid off.

Indeed, the familiarity may have proven an advantage to Loh, who has beaten Axelsen twice on tour in 2022 after also eliminating him from the 2021 World Championships.

The pair could meet again in Bangkok, should both successfully advance from the round-robin stage after having been paired in opposing groups.

• How learning from an Olympic champion helped Loh Kean Yew to world domination

"Overwhelming" attention after success

In the space of a year, Loh's world has changed dramatically. In a country with not many high-profile sporting achievements – Joseph Schooling's Rio 2016 swimming gold being a notable exception – Loh's world title captured the imagination of ordinary Singaporeans.

"Actually it was pretty overwhelming," Loh told Olympics.com earlier this year about his rise to fame in the country. "We have other world champions in Singapore from sailing, from silat, from bowling, just that in badminton I was the first.

"The attention was much more than I thought I would get, coming all at the same time," he recalled.

It's something he has since gotten used to, as his continued rise through the rankings has given way to more media coverage of each of his tournaments back home – which didn't use to happen.

"I had a little break from badminton, it was kind of also to swim in the limelight, to enjoy it, to get drowned in it for a while," he remembers of the first days after his world title win.

"After that, I started playing again, and then it starts again – everything's in the past."

Not riding on his past success has worked out for Loh, even though he hasn't won a title in 2022. He picked up a runner-up check at the India Open and a silver medal at the Southeast Asian Games.

This year alone, the 25-year-old has gained 12 places in the world rankings – and a good result at the World Tour Finals could see him move into second. He is guaranteed to overtake Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia just by playing in Bangkok, although his year-ending ranking will also depend on the performance of others ranked just behind him.

Loh's next step awaits.