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PARIS: Their debut Olympic campaign may have ended without any medals to show, but there were lessons worth their weight in gold for Singapore’s badminton mixed doubles pair of Terry Hee and Jessica Tan.
On Monday (Jul 29), the pair beat the United States’ Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai, finishing their Olympics campaign third out of four teams in their group.
Only the top two teams from each of the four groups progress to the quarter-finals.
“It’s a really amazing learning journey. Of course getting here to the Olympics is already a huge and massive achievement for us,” said Tan. “However, we did not perform as well as we hoped to, especially in the first two games.
“What we really need to take away is that we should have tried to enjoy the process more, because I felt that we wanted it too badly and I think that just took over us.”
At the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, the world No 17 husband-wife duo took the victory against the 30th-ranked Americans 21-17, 21-12.
“Overall, we played up to what we had expected. It’s because we were more relaxed and not as nervous as the first two (matches),” said Hee. “We tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.”
Both teams had already been eliminated from the competition before this encounter.
Singapore’s Hee and Tan had lost to Malaysia’s world No 9 pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei and China’s world No 2 pair Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping, who finished first and second respectively.
“Our first match here (against the Malaysians) was the most important match and everybody knows that, so it’s added pressure,” said Tan. “So after we lost, the mindset was a little like the end of the world. We were so down and sad.
“But I think what’s important to remember is that we shouldn’t let the losses and defeats determine (who we are).”
Singapore’s top men’s and women’s singles players remain in the running to reach the knockout stages.
After winning their opening matches, Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min are one victory from the next round.
Yeo will face Kate Foo Kune of Mauritius on Tuesday, while Loh will take on El Salvador’s Uriel Canjura on Wednesday.
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