Never mind qualifying for the Olympics, national badminton mixed doubles pair Terry Hee and Jessica Tan could not even string together back-to-back wins for most of 2023.
Following a breakthrough 2022 in which they claimed the India Open and Orleans Masters crowns, Commonwealth Games gold, and rose to a career-high world No. 13, the duo won just three out of nine matches in their first six tournaments of 2023. They could not get past the round of 16 and their ranking slipped to 33rd.
After the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification period began on May 1, 2023, they won only one of their next nine matches.
Tan, who barely had time to mourn her mother's death in the first quarter of 2023, said: "It was extremely stressful to an unhealthy extent in the first half of the year due to pressure, expectations, failures and family loss. We want to make the Olympics so much that we put everything on the line and struggled with having our mindset in the right place."
But national doubles head coach Paulus Firman kept his faith in the married couple's abilities. He also got them to play in lower-tier tournaments to help restore their confidence and get their Olympic qualifying campaign back on track.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 05, 2024 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 05, 2024 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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