Singapore's Loh Kean Yew, who defeated Kidambi Srikanth in BWF World Championships 2021 final, said he had to make plans to sharpen his defending skills against the Indian shuttler.
Srikanth became the first Indian man to win a silver medal at the Badmintion World Championships on Sunday after facing a defeat in the finals.
Loh Kean Yew defeated Kidambi in the final 21-15, 22-20 to clinch the game. The match lasted for 43 minutes.
"I cannot really think. At the start of the year I just didn't think this would happen. I'm very very very happy," the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) website quoted Loh Kean Yew as saying.
"Srikanth's a great attacking player, I had to prepare to defend well. It wasn't easy to handle the pressure. I just tried to calm myself. I managed to stay patient," he added.
The shuttler from Singapore explained how he prepared for the tournament following a dearth of competitions.
"Bangkok (Asian Leg) was a wake-up call after not having a lot of competitions, it told me I was far away from the top players," said Loh Kean Yew.
"So that motivated me to train and prepare for the Olympics. After that I trained with Viktor (Axelsen) and gained experience and I'm very happy to achieve this," he added.
This is the first time that a men's player from Singapore has won gold at the BWF World Championships.
( With inputs from ANI )
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