SINGAPORE – Battling pain from an Achilles injury, Yeo Jia Min’s run at the US$1.15m (S$1.55m) China Masters ended with a 21-14, 21-17 loss to Thailand’s world No. 10 Supanida Katethong in the women’s singles quarter-finals on Nov 22.
The Singaporean badminton player, ranked a career-high 13th, concluded a season that proved to be eventful, even if it was without a title on the circuit.
Thanking her supporters, the 25-year-old wrote on Instagram: “Frustrating that today was a day I had to choose not to risk my injury from getting worse. It happened during my match yesterday.
“Though I continued, the pain was worse this morning, it was hard to walk.”
Yeo also told The Straits Times: “My court coverage was affected, and whenever she increased her speed, it was hard for me to keep up. I felt pain every time I had to push off from my left foot.”
Against Supanida in Shenzhen, an all-round southpaw with impressive court coverage, Yeo found some openings in the first game with her variety of shots, but the Singaporean went down after making too many unforced errors.
The second game was a closer affair, with Yeo leading 11-8. While Supanida turned things around with five straight points after the interval, it was still neck and neck until the Thai pulled away from 18-17 up to seal the match and progress to the last four.
She will meet China’s 28th-ranked Gao Fangjie on Nov 23.
The other semi-final will be contested by South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young and Japan’s world No. 14 Tomoka Miyazaki.
After pocketing US$6,325, Yeo will take stock of a season in which she made it to her first Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 750 semi-final at the India Open in January, followed by seven other quarter-finals.
She was also the first Singaporean badminton player to reach the Olympic women’s singles round of 16 since 2012, and finished 2024 strong, with five quarter-final appearances in seven BWF World Tour events after Paris. For her efforts, she took home a total of US$53,580 in prize money for the year.
She managed to beat four top-10 players in South Korea’s An, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, China’s Han Yue and Indonesia’s Gregoria Tunjung.
At the China Masters, she also overcame India’s 2019 world champion P. V. Sindhu for the first time.
“I know my strengths more and have a better understanding of how to tackle different styles of play. I will take a two-week break first, and come back to prepare for the Malaysia Open that starts from Jan 7,” she said.
Outgoing national singles head coach Kelvin Ho said that Yeo has become more consistent and unpredictable, but she needs to cut down on unforced errors at crucial moments, if the former junior world No. 1 is to realise her potential.
He added: “Jia Min has been playing well… and can still improve on her focus and concentration to avoid losing a few points in a row.
“This will be crucial at high-level tournaments, as every point counts.”
