SINGAPORE – With one half of Singapore’s top badminton mixed doubles pair recovering from injury, Terry Hee will attempt to retain their Guwahati Masters crown in December with a new partner.
Instead of playing alongside his wife Jessica Tan, he will instead be competing with Jin Yujia at the US$100,000 (S$135,000) Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 100 event from Dec 3-8.
On Nov 25, the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) confirmed the move and a spokesman explained that it was looking to explore different combinations, adding that this is a good time to do so as Tan “has not fully recovered from her injuries and is not sufficiently competition-fit”.
Hee, 29, said: “It has been a remarkable partnership and a very special journey and it’s not going to be the same on court again without Jessica.
“But in sport, it is important to trust the coaches, and the next few tournaments will be important as a measure of my compatibility with Yujia.”
Hee and Tan have enjoyed a fruitful decade-long partnership, earning 10 titles since winning the 2014 Singapore International in their debut.
They wed in October 2021, before claiming three World Tour titles and a historic gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. They were the first local-born mixed doubles pair to qualify for the Olympics, winning one match and losing twice at Paris 2024 to miss out on the quarter-finals.
Despite a career-high world No. 13 in January 2023, Tan has had to cope with an ankle injury and a hamstring complaint in 2024, which led to the association making the change.
National doubles head coach Paulus Firman paid tribute to the duo, and he is optimistic about what Jin can bring to the partnership.
The 55-year-old Indonesian said: “I’m very proud of what Jessica and Terry have achieved on their way to the Olympics. There were many obstacles they had to overcome, especially coming from behind as a new partnership at the end of 2021 after Terry fulfilled his national service commitments.
“The new mixed doubles combination of Terry and Yujia will be a promising one, especially with Yujia having significant experience playing at the elite level. They have just started training together, and the current plan is to have them participate in upcoming tournaments such as the Guwahati Masters and the Bangladesh International Challenge.”
Jin looked on track to qualify for the Paris 2024 women’s doubles competition with Crystal Wong when they reached a career-high world No. 16 in May 2023. But the latter decided to focus on her university studies.
Jin, who moved from Hangzhou to Singapore when she was 11, then paired with Heng Xiao En in the women’s doubles, as well as Johann Prajogo, Kriston Choo and Wesley Goh, whom she won the Bendigo International with in October, in the mixed doubles.
About her new partnership with Hee, 27-year-old Jin said: “We have been friends for many years and we have also sparred together on countless occasions during our training sessions. I’m looking forward to being on the same side of the net with Terry this time.”
Partnership splits are not unusual in badminton and even successful long-time pairings wlll break up to experiment and find better combinations. These include Thailand’s former world champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, and Japan’s Olympic bronze medallists Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
A decision will be made about Tan’s new partner later, but the 31-year-old expressed her support for the change She said: “In badminton doubles, we have to continually experiment and explore different partnerships. I will continue my physiotherapy and training, and see which permutations work out best for me moving forward.”
