Terry Hee and Gloria Widjaja get first mixed doubles win at Indonesia Masters

SINGAPORE – As a touring professional, Singapore’s Terry Hee has played many times at Jakarta’s Istora Senayan, an arena dreaded by many badminton players owing to the passionate and raucous support for the home favourites.

On Jan 21, the 30-year-old was treated to a different experience as the partisan crowd cheered him and Indonesia’s Gloria Widjaja on as the mixed doubles pair beat China’s world No. 16 Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi 21-13, 20-22, 21-13 in the opening round of the US$500,000 (S$642,000) Indonesia Masters.

They will play Denmark’s European champions and 12th-ranked Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund next on Jan 22.

Hee told The Straits Times: “The crowd in Indonesia was great as usual, but it’s always better when the crowd is cheering for you (rather) than against you. I really appreciated that boost.

“I’m delighted that Gloria and I managed to beat strong opponents in our first competition outing. It’s too early to say how far we can go, but we’re certainly hopeful to go deeper into the tournament.” 

This is the first win on their tour debut for the newly minted duo,

who are the first multi-national mixed doubles pair for Singapore badminton

. Hee had previously partnered Jin Yujia for a year, while Widjaja is waiting on her former partner Rehan Kusharjanto to recover from a serious knee injury.

Hee and Widjaja made a striking pair on court at Senayan, with the latter’s imposing 1.82m frame and delicate touches helping with her front-court coverage, while the Singaporean unleashed smashes from the back.

Despite Widjaja squatting low at the net to allow Hee to attack, the Singaporean still managed to hit her in the back in the penultimate point.

Laughing as he recalled the moment, Hee said: “As you know, Gloria is very tall and the tallest partner I have played with, and I will try my best not to hit her again.”

Widjaja noted that they were focused on staying calm against their opponents and executing the game plan, even after losing the second game.

The 32-year-old added: “I am happy with how we handled the pressure, especially in the crucial moments. There are still many things we can improve, but this win gives us confidence that we can compete at a high level together.

“The mindset was very simple: enjoy the fight, communicate more and support each other on court.”

Singapore Badminton Association doubles head coach Paulus Firman said: “Both of them complemented each other well on court today and have good chemistry.

“Because of the high level of their individual ability and technical quality, it was not difficult for them to more seamlessly integrate as a cohesive pair. It does make it seem like they had been playing together for a long time.”

Earlier in the day, men’s singles world No. 10 Loh Kean Yew returned to winning ways by vanquishing Denmark’s 39th-ranked Magnus Johannesen 21-13, 21-12 in the opening round.

The win comes after a semi-final loss to Jonatan Christie at the India Open on Jan 17, which extended his losing streak against the Indonesian world No. 4 to nine straight matches.

However, Loh told ST after the loss that he was struggling with a back injury sustained during the tournament’s quarter-finals. He will continue to manage the injury at the ongoing Super 500 event, where he will face home favourite Zaki Ubaidillah (No. 46) in the last 16 on Jan 22 in a bid to avenge his defeat to the teenager in the quarter-finals of the SEA Games.

World No. 51 men’s doubles pair Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo, who battled through qualifying by beating China’s Huang Di and Sun Wen Jun 21-14, 21-18 to earn a spot in the main draw, failed to advance after losing 21-12, 16-21, 21-19 to Chinese Taipei’s 21st-ranked Liu Kuang-heng and Yang Po-han.

World No. 22 Jason Teh dispatched Hong Kong’s 31st-ranked Angus Ng 21-16, 21-7 in 36 minutes to set up a last-16 men’s singles clash against Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting.