New year, new pair: Terry Hee links up with Indonesia’s Gloria Widjaja in badminton mixed doubles

SINGAPORE – In a first for Singapore badminton, Terry Hee will team up with Indonesia’s former world junior champion Gloria Widjaja as a multi-national mixed doubles pair to compete on the Badminton World Federation World Tour.

The duo will kick off their new partnership at the Jan 20-25 Indonesia Masters.

Hee, 30, told The Straits Times: “During preparation for tournaments last year, Gloria and I had done some joint training... we are familiar with each other’s playing style. She is a world-class player who has what it takes to be at the top level.

“Hopefully she can guide this partnership and it will work.”

This also marks the end of Hee and Jin Yujia’s mixed doubles pairing after one year. They delivered mixed results on the court,

winning the 2024 Bangladesh International Challenge

in their third tournament and reaching a high of world No. 21, but in 2025 they failed to make it past the last 16 in 15 tournaments and were eliminated in the quarter-finals at the SEA Games.

The partnership was formed in late 2024, after

Hee’s combination with his wife Jessica Tan ended following the latter’s injury and retirement

.

The married couple, who were ranked as high as 13th, won 10 titles together – including the historic

2022 Commonwealth Games gold

– and competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

At their first official training session at the OCBC Arena on Jan 12, the new alliance showed good chemistry and were more than a match for 52nd-ranked men’s doubles pair Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo in a practice game.

Hee demonstrated his trademark power from the back court and Widjaja, 32, showed nice deft touches and well-angled smashes, as well as impressive reach and court coverage.

Hee added: “We have not set specific targets as we are just getting started. Obviously we will try to break the top 10, but every three or six months we will review our performance with our coaches and see how it goes. We hope this will work out well for us and we will give our fans a good show.”

Such international partnerships are not unusual on the BWF World Tour, with Dutchman Robin Tabeling teaming up with Denmark’s Alexandra Boje to win the 2025 German Open, while Malaysia’s Olympic silver medallist Goh V Shem and South Korean Choi Sol-gyu also started their collaboration in 2025.

It is understood that the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA), which put the Hee-Widjaja pair together, also considered Thailand’s Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who won the 2021 world title with Dechapol Puavaranukroh, and Malaysia’s Lai Pei Jing, who once reached world No. 5 with Tan Kian Meng.

National doubles head coach Paulus Firman said: “We chose Gloria because her style of play and game is more suited to Terry. Both Gloria and Terry have played at the highest levels on the BWF Tour, and she was previously ranked in the top 10 for mixed doubles with two different partners. So it was easier to pair them.

“Gloria has played mixed doubles many years, so she already knows very well the role of playing at the front court. As we begin training and competing together, they must understand what their respective strengths and weaknesses are.

“The skills, technique and quality from them are high level. But in doubles, communication, understanding, trust and combination of their play are also important. For me, it’s simple – it’s all about how they are going to make life easy for each other on court.”

While she has operated mostly as an independent player with PB Djarum Club, Widjaja – who at 1.82m is one of the tallest female players on the tour – has established herself as a solid mixed doubles player.

After winning the 2011 world junior title with compatriot Alfian Prasetya, she was once ranked world No. 6 with Hafiz Faisal in 2019, and No. 8 with Dejan Ferdinansyah in 2024, before reaching No. 13 with Rehan Kusharjanto in 2025.

The opportunity for Hee to work with Widjaja arose after Kusharjanto’s serious knee injury, even though she partnered 18-year-old Evano Tangka to win the Vietnam International Series in October 2025.

Noting that she is waiting for Kusharjanto to recover, she said: “When I received a call to partner Terry, I thought why not give it a go! Terry is a very smart tactical player, has good skills and already has a lot of experience in high-level match events.

“We have also faced each other in competitions before and done some sparring together. I believe in Terry, and hopefully we can combine well together in the upcoming tournaments and get good results.”

The duo will work on their chemistry in Singapore for about a week, before competing at the Indonesia Masters. Training will be done separately in their respective countries and they will come together when their schedules allow.

ST understands that their expenses will be split equally and borne by their respective organisations. Hee will also be engaged as a sparring partner for SBA to help train, advise and develop younger doubles players for its talent pipeline.

SBA’s head of pathways and performance Vanessa Neo said: “In the world of doubles badminton, constant experimentation with new pairings is essential – not only to identify effective on-court combinations, but also to support athletes at different stages of their careers.

“As the players progress from development to peak performance and later transition phases, adjusting partnerships allows them to better understand their individual strengths, technical preferences and tactical roles.

“Such adaptive approach enables our athletes to continue learning, evolving and contributing meaningfully within a doubles system while maximising individual growth and pair performance as well as develop the local talent pool.”

Jin will continue to be part of SBA’s women’s and mixed doubles teams and is slated to compete in the Badminton Asia Team Championships in China in February.