SINGAPORE – For 34 minutes, Terry Hee and Jessica Tan tried to match the intensity of their world No. 1 opponents Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.

But their efforts were in vain.

Amid a flurry of rallies and smashes, the Singapore pair not only fell 21-11, 21-11 to the home favourites in the round of 16 of the Badminton Asia Championships in China on April 11, but also lost their chance of clinching a direct spot for the Paris Olympics.

Hee and Tan, who are 19th in the world, had to extend their stay in the competition at Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre to earn enough points to climb up the rankings for a ticket to Paris.

There are only 16 slots for the doubles at the Games, compared to 38 entries for the singles.

The first 13 eligible pairs are allocated slots via the Race to Paris rankings, which tabulate their points during the qualification window from May 1, 2023 to April 28, 2024.

The remaining three spots are given to the continental champions of America, Africa and Oceania.

As of April 9, Hee and Tan were 2,904 points behind the 13th spot occupied by Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Mentari.

The married couple said via the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA): “We did the best that we could today, but of course we’re disappointed in the result, despite the scoreline being further than all our previous tight encounters.

“Our opponents handled the game and exploited our weaknesses well today. We are definitely disappointed that we could not proceed further in the tournament.

“As of now for the Olympic qualification, nothing is concrete yet. We will wait to see what can happen.”

While their chances of direct qualification have ended, a glimmer of hope remains. They could become the first reserve pairing and are still in with a chance if countries do not take up their continental places. 

In response to queries from The Straits Times, SBA technical director Martin Andrew said: “It looks likely that they will be the first reserve pairing for the Olympics. 

“There are still a number of various permutations which need to be worked through, all of which are now outside of our control and we need them to go ‘our way’ before we know if an additional place in the mixed doubles at the Olympics becomes available. 

“This week, the European Champs and Pan Am Champs are also taking place, so there are many changes in world rankings across the disciplines.

“We will probably not have formal confirmation (either way) until the middle of May.”

Momentum had once been behind the couple’s Olympic bid.

They had 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 couple then went through a slump which saw their ranking slip to 33rd.

But in the last quarter of 2023, they made the finals of the Abu Dhabi and Odisha Masters, and won the Irish Open and Guwahati Masters.

As of March 3, they had been 12th in the Race to Paris rankings.

But they then failed to progress beyond the round of 16 at several tournaments, including the German Open, French Open, All England Open, Swiss Open and the Madrid Spain Masters before their latest exit.

Hee and Tan were not the only Singaporeans who had to deal with a loss. World No. 19 Yeo Jia Min also suffered a round-of-16 exit, beaten 21-13, 21-14 by China’s ninth-ranked Wang Zhiyi.

On April 10, Singapore’s world No. 10 Loh Kean Yew crashed out in the first round of the men’s singles after losing 18-21, 21-18, 21-17 to Japan’s 12th-ranked Kenta Nishimoto.

Loh is currently 12th in the Race to Paris rankings for the men’s singles, while Yeo is 14th in the women’s singles.