National shuttlers post record highs in world rankings
Singapore's Yeo Jia Min and Loh Kean Yew both reached record highs in the latest BWF (Badminton World Federation) world rankings released yesterday, after impressive performances at last week's World Championships in Basel.
Loh, 22, moved up three places in the men's singles standings to world No. 31.
In Switzerland, he beat 10th seed Sameer Verma and Thomas Rouxel, before pushing world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen all the way in the last-16, eventually succumbing 13-21, 21-18, 17-21.
Yeo went one better, becoming the first Singaporean woman to reach the singles quarter-final at the worlds.
She upset world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi en route to the last eight, before eventually losing to former world champion and current world No. 6 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
The 20-year-old Singaporean, who was South-east Asia's second-best performer in the women's singles after bronze-medallist Ratchanok, moved up four places to No. 28 in the world rankings.
Yeo told The New Paper that she was happy with the "continuous progress" up the rankings and said she was targeting a place "around the top 10" by the time places for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo are decided by April 28 next year.
Said the former junior world No. 1: "I feel happy to see continuous progress in my ranking because it will also help me to take part in top competitions.
"I do not really focus on the rankings, but more on doing my best to see improvement in my game and hopefully winning more matches, especially with Tokyo 2020 coming soon.
"By next April, I hope to be around the top 10 in the world."
Loh, meanwhile, said: "I'm on the right track, but what I need is consistency.
"In competition and in training, I need to have consistency in my performances. My target for this year is to break into the top 30."
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