Loh Kean Yew’s coach Kelvin Ho to take over national training squad
The winds of change are sweeping through the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA), which is making key coaching and organisational tweaks in a bid for success at the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
The Straits Times understands that national singles coach Kelvin Ho, who has played a key role in the rise of badminton stars Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min, will take over from Taufiq Hidayat as head coach of the national training squad in early 2025. His task is to develop the next generation of national players with an eye on the 2032 Games.
After being released as a national player in 2011, Ho switched to coaching and joined the national intermediate squad. In 2018, he was appointed assistant national singles coach, before taking over from Mulyo Handoyo as the national singles coach in April 2022.
Notably, the 34-year-old was in Loh’s corner when he became the first Singaporean to be crowned world champion in 2021. The latter also rose to world No. 3 – a record high for a local player – won the Spain Masters and made the Olympic quarter-finals in 2024.
Under his tutelage, Yeo reached a career-high 16th in the world rankings and the Olympics round of 16 in Paris, while both players also qualified for the prestigious Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals.
With Ho’s move in 2025, the SBA is on the lookout for men’s and women’s singles head coaches – instead of combining the roles – while continuing with the services of national doubles head coach Paulus Firman.
The national sports association is also in the midst of its hunt for a new technical director following the departure of Martin Andrew in August, after the Paris Olympics. It is understood that the appointment will be made only after the SBA has confirmed its candidates for singles coaches.
More change is expected with chief executive officer Alan Ow also set to leave SBA for personal reasons after more than three years at the helm.
Under his leadership, Singapore badminton attained success both on and off the court.
Other than Loh and Yeo’s achievements, Terry Hee and Jessica Tan won a historic Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold in 2022, five titles on the BWF World Tour and hit a career-high ranking of 13th.
The association also secured major sponsors such as the Karim Family Foundation and JK Technology for the Singapore Open and player development and post-career programmes. It also reopened the Singapore Badminton Stadium at Guillemard Road on Aug 9.
When contacted, an SBA spokesman said more details about the changes will be announced soon.
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