SECOND ON HEE-JIN'S SECOND GO

Singapore's new mixed doubles pair fall to China's Gao, Tang in Odisha Masters final

- Melvyn Teoh

Despite defeat in the Odisha Masters final on Dec 15, Singapore's new mixed doubles partnership of Terry Hee and Jin Yujia is showing promise, less than a month after being formed.

In only their second competition as a pair, 292nd-ranked Hee and Jin lost 15-21, 21-15, 21-15 in 54 minutes to China's world No. 206 Gao Jiaxuan and Tang Ruizhi to finish runners-up at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack, India.

They took home US$3,800 (S$5,130) at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour Super 100 event, while the winners bagged US$7,900.

In the previous week, they competed as a pair for the first time at the Guwahati Masters, where they defeated Gao and Tang 21-13, 21-12 in the first round before a semi-final defeat by England's Rory Easton and Lizzie Tolman, who were then ranked No. 72.

Hee said: "Of course, we want to win matches every time we go on court, but we need to trust the process and take it slow.