Singapore's Yeo Jia Min loses to South Korea's Kim Ga-eun at Tokyo Olympics

Yeo Jia Min started the second game poorly, trailing 4-0, but found her footing thereafter.ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Yeo Jia Min was knocked out of the women’s singles badminton competition at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday (Jul 28). 

The 22-year-old lost against South Korea’s Kim Ga-eun, ranked 18th in the world, 21-13, 21-14, at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza. 

Yeo, ranked 30th in the world, had a 3-1 head-to-head coming into the match with Kim, winning their last two encounters in 2019.

On Wednesday morning, Kim started strongly, pulling ahead 11-6 at the interval of the first game. She sealed the first game 21-13 after just 13 minutes.

The South Korean took that momentum into the second game, racing to a 4-0 lead. Despite trailing 11-7, Yeo struck first after the interval with two points of her own.

Three points on the trot by Kim snuffed out any chance of a comeback from Yeo as she pulled further ahead, closing the match in 30 minutes.

The Singaporean player barely had a day to rest after her victory against Mexico’s Haramara Gaitan on Tuesday.