Loh Kean Yew eliminated sixth seed Naraoka Kodai to reach the BWF India Open 2025 on quarter-finals on Thursday (16 January).
Loh prevailed 21-17, 21-15 to make it successive match wins for the first time since the Denmark Open in October, off the heels of his first victory of 2025 a day earlier. Badminton‘s 2021 world champion is now a perfect six-for-six against Naraoka for his career.
Loh’s stranglehold on the Japanese ace was evident from the first game as the Singaporean stayed in front throughout the set.
The second game was more of a tussle but from 15-all, Loh captured six straight points to win the 46-minute affair.
In the last eight, he will take on either his good friend and two-time Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen, who beat Jia Heng Jason Teh in straight games (21-11, 21-14).
On the women’s side, An Seyoung demonstrated the class of an Olympic champion with a 21-15, 21-8 win over Ratchanok Intanon.
Apart from a brief 2-1 lead Intanon had to start the second game, An never trailed during the match. The South Korean will face Jia Min Yeo in the next round.
The BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament runs until Sunday in New Delhi and is available on demand on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app (territorial restrictions may apply).
