Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew achieved the biggest result of his young career as he got the better of China’s Lin Dan in the men’s singles final of the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters yesterday.

The Singaporean (featured image) captured the World Tour Super 300 title in Bangkok with a straight games, 21-19 21-18 result over his accomplished rival. The Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters is the first tournament in the HSBC BWF World Tour.

On the way to the final, Loh had beaten players of the calibre of Zhou Zeqi, Zhao Junpeng (both China), Wang Tzu Wei (Chinese Taipei) and Brice Leverdez (France).

On the other hand, Lin had struggled to make the final, as each of his four previous opponents – Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand), Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hong Kong), Cheam June Wei (Malaysia) and Lu Guangzu (China) – took him to three games.

Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani also achieved her career’s best result, dashing the hopes of the home crowd beating local favourite Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women’s singles final, 21-12 21-14.

Fitriani upset top seed Nitchaon Jindapol (Thailand) in the second round, and then held her nerve in three-game battles against Yeo Jia Min (Singapore) in the quarterfinals and Deng Joy Xuan (Hong Kong) in the semifinals.

It was a good day for Malaysia in the paired events with newly-independent pairs Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong and Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying claiming the men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles respectively.

Top seeds Goh/Tan eased past Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han 21-13 21-17, while Chan/Goh were just as untroubled by local pair Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, 21-16 21-15.

Goh and Tan took the title without dropping a game. Runners-up Lu/Yang were stretched to three games in their previous three matches – by Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Frengky Wijaya Putra in the second round; Japan’s Keiichiro Matsui/Yoshinori Takeuchi in the quarterfinals, and Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin in the semifinals.

Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying also claimed the title without dropping a game.

Thailand had the satisfaction of winning one gold, through Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai in the women’s doubles.

The Thai pair beat young Chinese Li Wenmei/Zheng Yu 15-21 21-15 21-10 to capture their biggest victory after getting together late last year following Supajirakul’s extended stint with a different partner last year.

Supajirakul and Taerattanachai’s big moment was their quarterfinal upset of top-seeded compatriots Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai 21-19 21-18. They then shut out Russia’s Ekaterina Bolotova/Alina Davletova 18-21 21-12 21-4, before winning the final against Li/Zheng.

The Chinese had earlier upset second seeds Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida (Japan) in the quarterfinals, 24-22 21-12.