SINGAPORE – He had played five consecutive three-game matches totalling 316 minutes in his run to the KFF Singapore Badminton Open final in the previous week. But one more marathon match was too much for Loh Kean Yew to take.

As such, the world No. 13 retired in his men’s singles first-round match against Hong Kong’s 34th-ranked Angus Ng at the Indonesia Open on June 3, with both players tied at one game apiece after 36 minutes.

Loh told The Straits Times: “I pulled my abs in the first game. It could be due to fatigue from last week, but I had a foot injury even before that so it’s not surprising to have a new injury if I had been compensating with other muscles.”

The 28-year-old had never dropped a game in five previous meetings with Ng, and comfortably won 21-14 in the opener at the Istora Senayan Jakarta.

However, his movement became more laboured and he withdrew from the match after losing the second game 21-16.

While he leaves the US$1.45 million (S$1.86 million) tournament – a Super 1000 event that ranks behind only the Badminton World Federation World Tour Finals on the world tour – with US$1,450 in prize money, Ng progressed to the last 16 where he will meet Taiwanese world No. 6 Chou Tien-chen.

Singapore Badminton Association sparring partner and coaching assistant Vega Nirwanda, who was in Loh’s corner at both his recent tournaments, said: “Kean Yew strained his abdominal muscles in the first game, and we decided that it’s in his best interests to retire from the match rather than play on and aggravate the injury.

“We want him to be fighting fit for the Aug 17-23 world championships in India and the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan.”

In May, Loh had a foot strain and shared he could barely walk in his fi...