Kean Yew's amazing ride to badminton semis
Singapore teen's journey has been an inspiring story
He entered the SEA Games as an unknown badminton player, with few in Singapore expecting anything from young upstart Loh Kean Yew.
But, over the course of the competition at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kean Yew's stature has grown as he made his way through the draw into the men's singles semi-finals.
In the end, the dream was not to be after the teenager fell 22-20, 21-15 to Malaysia's Arif Abdul Latif in last night's semi-finals.
But the 17-year-old will be remembered for the way he excited Singapore fans after Derek Wong was eliminated by 2013 gold medallist Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk.
Kean Yew was upset after the semi-finals because he felt he didn't play to his best.
He said: "I still feel like I could have done better, especially given there were points in the match when I was leading.
"I certainly believed I was good enough to at least win a silver.
"Perhaps I wanted to win too much and, as a result, I rushed my shots and wasted them.
"I need to start thinking about it point by point and not get caught up worrying about winning the match… when I do that, that's when I start rushing."
Kean Yew's story is an interesting one given he is originally from Penang, but moved to Singapore when he was 13 and is now studying at Republic Polytechnic.
Regardless of his origin, it was clear that the Singapore fans regard him as one of their own, given the amount of times "Kean Yew" was chanted throughout his exciting 32-minute showing against Arif, ranked 67th in the world.
"I would like to thank the Singapore fans from the bottom of my heart," he said. "They were cheering for me at the top of their voices, whether I was winning or losing the match.
"It really means a lot to me and it helped give me that extra push at times."
EXPERIENCE
Kean Yew admitted he needs to learn to cope with the pressure of expectations, especially the moment he became Singapore's last hope in the men's singles.
"It was a good learning experience for me because everyone at the tournament was a better player than me," explained the world No. 139. "I guess the initial lack of expectation helped a bit because everyone expected Derek to go the furthest.
"No one expected anything from me so I didn't give myself any pressure, but that changed when I was the only Singaporean remaining.
"I tried to not be weighed down by it all but, I think in the end, I did let myself get affected by it all.
"All I can do now is learn from this match and the overall experience, and how to control my emotions better."
For now, the youngster can be satisfied with the bronze medal he has won in the colours of Singapore, after gaining citizenship in February.
He was eager to stress, however, that he will not rest on his laurels, as he looks to one day achieve the dream he has had at since he was a child.
Kean Yew said: "I must admit I'm quite proud of how I've done, even though I'm not fully satisfied.
"Since young, I have dreamt big and my aim is to win the gold at the Olympics. Yes, it is a dream of many youngsters. It is a big dream, but I'm going to try.
"Right now, I'm just going to continue working towards that dream."
FACTFILE
Name: loh Kean yew
Born: June 26, 1997 in Penang, Malaysia
Age: 17
Height: 1.75m
Weight: 64kg
World ranking: 139 (highest)
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