3 days ago
Back to the drawing board for Terry Hee and Jin Yujia after first-round exit at S'pore Badminton Open
National mixed doubles Terry Hee (top) and Jin Yujia lost 21-14, 21-9 to Indonesians Rehan Kusharjanto and Gloria Widjaja in the KFF Singapore Badminton Open round of 32. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
Back to the drawing board for Terry Hee and Jin Yujia after first-round exit at S'pore Badminton Open
SINGAPORE – It is back to the drawing board for national mixed doubles badminton pair Terry Hee and Jin Yujia, as they suffered a first-round exit at the KFF Singapore Open following a 21-14, 21-9 loss to Indonesians Rehan Kusharjanto and Gloria Widjaja on May 28.
This is the seventh consecutive tournament in which the world No. 27 duo, who started playing together only in November 2024, have been knocked out in the opening round of 32.
Despite the support of the home crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Hee and Jin were unable to end the streak against their 26th-ranked Indonesian opponents, also a newly formed pair who made their competition debut at the Jan 28-Feb 2 Super 300 Thailand Masters.
Jin, 28, said: 'This was definitely not our best performance. We were hoping to put up a better performance for all the Singaporeans. Unfortunately today, the win was not on our side and we have to reflect on what went wrong.'
The match started on an even footing, but with the scores level at 4-4, the Indonesians began to pull ahead, going up 11-5 at the interval.
Returning to the court, Hee and Jin narrowed the deficit briefly to 12-8, but the Indonesians regained the momentum to close out the first game 21-14.
In the second game, Rehan and Gloria led throughout after building a 4-0 advantage. Quicker and sharper, the Indonesians closed out the match in 31 minutes, condemning the Singaporeans to another defeat.
Reflecting on the Super 750 home event, Hee said: 'It's a very good platform and a very high-level tournament for us to gauge where we really are. Obviously we're not there yet, so we will need to work a lot harder.'
The duo were paired together in late November as Hee's long-time playing partner and wife Jessica Tan was recovering from injuries.
In April, Tan called time on a 14-year career to pursue further education.
In their first outing, Hee and Jin had reached the semi-finals of the Guwahati Masters, before making it to the Odisha Masters final. Both are Super 100 tournaments.
They won the Bangladesh International Challenge title in December 2024, their third competition together. But they have struggled in higher-level tournaments in 2025, with their best performance coming in January's India Open, where they made it to the round of 16.
Hee, 29, said: 'The results have not been very good. For me, I will doubt myself and wonder what's going on. But that's an athlete's life, we have to push through and keep working hard for the day that may never come.'
Jin also admitted that her morale has been affected, but noted that they are working with their coaches to improve, adding: 'But for us and our coaches, we try to focus on the process and dig deep into the problem instead of (focusing on) the win or loss.'
Loh Kean Yew and Yeo Jia Min are now Singapore's remaining representatives in the US$1 million (S$1.29 million) tournament.
Loh's campaign resumes on May 29, with the world No. 10 coming up against 16th-ranked Frenchman Toma Junior Popov in the round of 16 of the men's singles.
World No. 11 Yeo will meet top-ranked An Se-young, the women's singles defending champion, in the last 16 on the same day.
In other round-of-16 matches, Chinese world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi will meet American Zhang Beiwen after coming from behind to beat Indian teenager Unnati Hooda 13-21, 21-9, 21-15 on May 28.
Akane Yamaguchi, Japan's world No. 3 and two-time world champion who beat Ukraine's Polina Buhrova 21-15, 21-13 in the first round, will face Chinese Taipei's Sung Shuo-yun next.
In the men's singles, Thailand's world No. 2 and world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn will face China's Wang Zhengxing in the last 16 after defeating Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-13, 21-15.
Former All England champions Li Shifeng from China and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie also advanced to the last 16 after winning their respective matches on May 28.
World No. 4 Li beat Japan's Koki Watanabe 21-12, 21-14 to set up a meeting with Chinese Taipei's Lin Chun-yi, while world No. 5 Jonatan will come up against Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao after overcoming Ireland's Nhat Nguyen 23-21, 21-16.
Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.
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