On Sunday, the Singaporean world number 22 upset India's world number 14 Srikanth Kidambi 21-15, 22-20 in the final in Huelva, Spain.

On the final point, when a push to the back court landed in, Loh sank to his knees but ascended into sporting legend.

In a single, inspired week he has crafted one of the greatest moments in the small nation’s sporting folklore.

And few would know he did it on one good ankle.

The 24-year-old rolled his right ankle while trying to save a shuttle in Friday’s quarterfinal win over India’s Prannoy H. S. and was wheelchair-bound after beating Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in the semifinal on Saturday.

He told The Straits Times, “I thought I was finished because it hurt like hell, and I couldn’t walk. But I told myself to push through the pain and go all out in the final and coped with ice and some treatment, and it paid off.”

“I’m super, super happy. This feels like a dream, and now it’s a dream come true. I grew up watching Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei playing such big finals, and now I’m here as the world champion. It’s unbelievable.”

“I’m honored to deliver this first gold for Singapore.”

Since the competition's inception in 1977, only four countries — China, Indonesia, Denmark and Japan — have won gold in the men's singles, and now Singapore has one of its own.

 

Tough game

In the final, Loh displayed courage and composure despite his injury.

He was down 9-3 in the opening frame but roared back.

At 12-12, he flung himself to the ground to retrieve a smash and bounced right up for the kill. From that moment, he never looked back.

The second game followed a similar vein and Kidambi was up 18-16, but the underdog was relentless in his quest to become world champion and did so after winning his third match point.

In the other finals, China's world number three pair of Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan beat fourth-ranked South Koreans Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan 21-16, 21-17 to add to their 2017 women's doubles world title.

Elsewhere, there were new world champions as Japan's world number three Akane Yamaguchi beat Chinese Taipei's top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying 21-14, 21-11 in the women's singles final.

In the men's doubles final, Japan's world number four Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi beat China's 24th-ranked He Jiting and Tan Qiang 21-12, 21-18, and in the mixed doubles final, Thailand's world number one Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai beat Japan's world number four Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino 21-13, 21-14.

But for Singapore badminton, it has been more than a decade since it has made ripples of some magnitude on the international stage.

 

Greatest sporting feats

Loh's breakthrough will easily rank among Singapore's greatest sporting feats, which include swimmer Joseph Schooling's 100 meter butterfly gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, as well as Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu, Sun Beibei, Li Jiawei and Yu Mengyu's "Miracle in Moscow", when they upset mighty China to win the World Team Table Tennis Championships in 2010.

Fu Mingtian claimed the last of the nation's three SEA Games golds when she won the women's singles in 2011, while Li Li remains its only Commonwealth Games champion after winning the women's singles in 2002.

Further back, the late Wong Peng Soon won the last of his four All England titles in 1955.

Singapore President Halimah led the plaudits as she congratulated Loh in a Facebook post, writing “Thank you for flying the Singapore flag high, by dint of sheer hard work and perseverance. We are all proud of you.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong added, “Well done, Kean Yew! You do Singapore proud. Looking forward to your next success!”

Carving his place among badminton’s elite, Loh has beaten six of the world’s top 10 players in the past three months.

At these World Championships, he stunned Denmark's world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the opening round and world number three Anders Antonsen in the semifinals.

Besides capturing the Dutch Open and Hylo Open titles, he also claimed the scalps of Japan's then-world number one Kento Momota (Indonesia Open), Malaysia's world number seven and All England champion Lee Zii Jia (French Open) and Taiwan's world number four Chou Tien-chen (Hylo Open).

Loh's meteoric rise caps a tremendous year for Singapore sports, as the country continues to punch above its weight on the international stage.

Swimmer Yip Pin Xiu won two golds at the Aug. 24 to Sept. 5 Tokyo Paralympics, pool pro Aloysius Yapp reached the summit of the world rankings in October, and bowler Shayna Ng clinched a historic women's singles world championship title in November.