I can’t imagine what they went through: Sportsman of the Year Loh Kean Yew thanks his parents

SINGAPORE A figure of concentration on court, Singapore badminton star Loh Kean Yew admitted that he was a bundle of nerves after the 25-year-old beat former pool world No. 1 Aloysius Yapp to win his country’s Sportsman of the Year award on Thursday at the Singapore Sports Awards.

Lohs latest win came just two days after he broke into the top three in the world rankings for the first time in his career.

Despite the visible jitters after he received the Trophy and a check for $10,000 on stage at the Marina Bay Sands Orchid Ballroom, Lohs attention immediately shifted to thanking his parents who were in attendance.

And when speaking to the media after the ceremony, he once again paid tribute to mother Grace Gan, 58, and father Loh Pin Keat, 60.

When I started (playing) badminton, it was not easy for them to support me and my brother (Kean Hean) together to go for training because we were not well off, said Loh, who was born in Penang.

They took us to practice and would wait because I used to train until 12am. One of the most important sacrifices they made was to send us to Singapore. I can’t imagine what they went through every day with their children being away from them. That is one of the biggest sacrifices not being able to spend time with us.

So it was only fitting that when Loh only the second badminton player to be named Sportsman of the Year after Ronald Susilo in 2005 was asked how he would celebrate, he said he would do so by spending time with his parents.