Yeo upbeat despite bowing out in q-finals

National shuttler Yeo Jia Min's Indonesia Masters run ended in the quarter-finals after she lost 21-12, 21-13 to Thailand's world No. 27 Phittayaporn Chaiwan yesterday.

Still, the 22-year-old will earn US$3,300 (S$4,490) and is set to improve on her career-high world No. 20 ranking when the new list is out on Tuesday.

She had initially kept pace with her 20-year-old opponent and was tied at 10-10 in the first game before Phittayaporn caught fire and won 11 of the next 13 points.

It was a similar story in the second frame as Yeo got to 14-12 down, but went on to win just one of the next eight points.

She said: "A slight muscle strain from my previous match affected my game play as I found myself not being as quick to the shuttles to retrieve well. I will need to overcome such situations better."

Nevertheless, it has been a positive outing as she had battled flu since she finished second at the Hylo Open in Germany on Nov 7. After contemplating withdrawal, she beat Denmark's world No. 26 Line Christophersen and Japan's 49th-ranked Saena Kawakami.

"I will be taking care of my physical condition more... to prepare better for next week," said Yeo.

Her loss ends Singapore's involvement at the US$600,000 Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 750 event at the Bali International Convention Centre.

On Thursday, compatriot and Hylo Open men's singles champion Loh Kean Yew was beaten by Chinese Taipei's world No. 4 Chou Tien-chen in the round of 16.

The Singaporeans' next event is next week's Nov 23-28 Indonesian Open, a Super 1000 event, at the same venue.

National singles coach Kelvin Ho said: "The mid-term plan for Jia Min and Kean Yew is to be able to handle Super 500 and 750 events up to at least the quarter-finals.

"To reach this level, they will have to step up their training in terms of high intensity endurance and technical skills concurrently. This will be planned for the next block of training in Singapore.

"For now, we will focus on helping them recover after competition and training."