Commonwealth Games: Terry Hee, Jessica Tan clinch 1st badminton gold since 2002
SINGAPORE — Against higher-ranked opponents who are on their home turf, mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Jessica Tan pulled out all the stops to clinch Singapore's first badminton gold medal since 2002.
The husband-wife duo - ranked 35th in the world - played superbly to subdue England's world No.10 duo and last Games' silver-medallists Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith 21-16, 21-15 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Monday (8 August).
Hee, 27, and Tan, 29, have been in good form since the start of the year, winning the India Open in January.
However, that title win pales in comparison to this momentous victory, only the second-ever badminton gold for Singapore at the Commonwealth Games after Li Li's historic win in Manchester 20 years ago.
With Hee's wide shot repertoire and Tan's sturdy defence, the duo did not drop a game en route to the gold in the competition and stunned Malaysia's top-seeded pair of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing in the semi-finals.
On Sunday, Yeo Jia Min clinched the bronze medal in the women's singles competition, beating Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour 21-14, 22-20 in the play-off.
This was the first time since Li Li's gold-medal win in 2002 that a Singaporean shuttler has claimed a medal in the women's singles.
However, Jason Teh came up short in the men's singles bronze play-off, losing to India's Srikanth Kidambi 15-21, 18-21 to miss out on a medal.
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