Loh Kean Yew stuns world no. 1 Shi Yuqi in Ningbo

Loh Kean Yew pulled off a stunning three-game upset in Ningbo to beat home favourite Shi Yuqi at the Badminton Asia Championships 2025 on Friday (11 April).

The Singaporean, who was world champion in 2021 but has since dropped to a low of 17th in the world rankings, carried a lifetime 2–4 record against his world number one and top-seeded Chinese opponent, having lost their last meeting barely a month ago at the All England Open.

But Loh was not overawed and did not succumb to the vocal home support for Shi, winning their quarter-final 21-19, 13-21, 21-16 in 67 minutes to move on to the last four.

Loh, who reached the final of the Asia Championships in 2023 but ended up with silver, found himself locked in a see-saw first game against Shi with both men enjoying the lead. However, the Singaporean managed to pull ahead at 17-17 and hold his lead.

That said, he was in danger of letting the match get away from him entirely in the second. Shi was rampant and led 13-1 at one stage, but remarkably Loh found a way to keep the score respectable in dropping the second by only eight points.

It was Loh’s turn to go on the front foot in the decider as the 2021 world champ romped ahead to a 10-2 lead, and although Shi tried valiantly the top seed couldn’t close the gap.

Loh will face the 2023 world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semi-finals. Kunlavut had a tough three-game quarter-final of his own, beating Japan’s Nishimoto Kenta 21-12, 13-21, 23-21.

In women’s singles, Japan’s former world number one Yamaguchi Akane took on home crowd favourite and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Chen Yufei in the pick of the quarter-finals.

Chen, who is unseeded in Ningbo by virtue of having skipped much of the global circuit in recent months, closed out a straight-games 21-19, 21-13 victory to set up a last-four clash against Sim Yujin of Republic of Korea.