Terry Hee Yong Kai[a]OLY (born 6 July 1995) is a Singaporean badminton player.[5] In mixed doubles with Jessica Tan, Hee won his first World Tour title at the 2022 India Open.[6] Hee together with Jessica Tan also won the gold medal in the mixed doubles event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a first for Singapore in that discipline at the Games. Hee and his wife, Jessica Tan, were nominated for the Straits Times Singaporean of the Year Award 2022.[7] Terry Hee and Jessica Tan are Singapore's first local-born mixed doubles duo to qualify for the Olympics, and made their debut at the Paris Olympics 2024.[8]
Hee was born in Singapore and enrolled in the Singapore Sports School on a scholarship when he was 13.[1][2][3][4][9] He began playing badminton professionally for Singapore in 2014, after going through the youth system at the Singapore Sports School (SBA)'s badminton academy.[6][10]
Hee and Tan with other Singapore Olympians during an open-top bus parade in 2024
Hee opened the 2022 season by winning the mixed doubles title at the India Open partnering Jessica Tan.[6] The duo later captured their second World Tour title of the year by winning the Orléans Masters.[14]
In May 2022, Hee competed at the 2021 SEA Games. He won the bronze medals in the men's team and doubles events.[15][16]
Hee and Tan after winning the mixed doubles final at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in August, Hee was part of the Singaporean team who won the bronze medal in the mixed team events as the Singaporean team defeated England 3–0 at the bronze medal playoff.[17][18] Hee had also competed at the individual mixed doubles event with his wife, Tan. They won a historic gold medal and Singapore's first Commonwealth Games badminton mixed doubles gold after beating England's Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith in the final, with a score of 21–16, 21–15 in straight sets.[19]
2023–2024: Roller Coaster Journey to Paris Olympics
After crowning as the Commonwealth Games mixed-double champion in 2022, the forms of Hee and Tan dipped. The duo suffered early-round exits in their subsequent tournaments in 2022 and won just three out of nine matches in their first six tournaments of 2023. The 2024 Paris Olympics qualification period began on May 1, 2023. However, the chances of the pair qualifying for the Olympics were slim, as they won only one of their next nine matches. [20] The turnaround came after they started playing in lower-tier tournaments to boost confidence. They clinched second place in the Abu Dhabi Masters (BWF World Tour 100) in October and won the Iris Open, a BWF international challenge tournament in November. They ended 2023 with another two silverware from BWF World Tour 100 events: winning the Guwahati Masters and making the final of Odisha Masters. The haul of points from these tournaments significantly improved their chance to qualify for the Olympics. [20]
In 2024, Hee and Tan started the year strong by making it into the semi-final of Malaysia Open, a BWF World Tour 1000 event. However, since then, second-round appearances were their best in all subsequent tournaments until the end of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification period. They ranked 18th on the BWF Race to Paris rankings on April 30, 2024, and thus missed out on the automatic qualification spots. There were only 16 slots for the doubles at the Paris Olympics. Only the first 13 eligible pairs were allocated slots via the Race to Paris rankings, while the remaining three spots were given to the continental champions of America, Africa and Oceania. [21]
Fortunately, Hee and Tan received a lifeline after Australia, which had qualified in four badminton events, elected to take up the slots in the women’s singles and women’s doubles, thus freeing up a mixed doubles spot for Hee and Tan, the next eligible pair in the rankings. They became the first local-born mixed doubles duo from Singapore to qualify for the Olympic Games.[22] In the badminton mixed-double events in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hee and Tan were assigned to Group D together with Feng Yanzhe / Huang Dongping of China (2nd seed), Chen Tang Jie / Toh Ee Wei from Malaysia, and the American pair of Vinson Chiu / Jennie Gai. Hee and Tan played Chen and Toh in the opening match but lost 23–21 and 21–12. Up against China’s world no. 2 pair Feng and Huang next, the duo could not overcome their rivals, losing 21-13, 21-17, thus missing out on the quarter-finals [23] Hee and Tan ended their Olympics campaign with a win though as they beat United States’ Chiu and Gai, 21–17, 21–12 in the last group fixture.
2024: A New Partnership With Jin Yujia
Post-Olympics, Hee and Tan continued to contest in major World Tour tournaments, but all ended with 1st round exits. While competing in the Macau Open, where they were seeded second, their campaign was abruptly halted in the first round against Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Chan (Chinese Taipei). Tan suffered a hamstring injury amid the second set, and the duo had to retire. [24]
It was announced in November 2024 that Hee would form a new partnership with Jin Yujia, as Jessica Tan had not fully recovered from her injuries and was not sufficiently competition-fit.[25] The Hee-Jin partnership had a promising start in their first competition by reaching the semi-finals of Guwahati Masters. A week later, they made it into the final at the Odisha Masters but fell 15-21, 21-15, 21-15 in 54 minutes to China’s Gao Jiaxuan and Tang Ruizhi to finish runners-up..[26] Finally, In only their third competition together, Hee and Jin succeeded in capturing their first title together at the Bangladesh International Challenge beating India’s Bokka Navaneeth and Ritika Thaker 21-14, 21-16 in the final.[27]
Personal life
Hee married fellow Singaporean shuttler Jessica Tan in October, 2021. They had often partnered at mixed doubles tournaments since the start of Hee's professional career.[28] Their victory at the 2021 Czech Open, defeating Russians Lev Barinov and Anastasiia Boiarun, was their first tournament as a married duo.[28] They were made HSBC Life Singapore's first brand ambassadors in 2023. In 2024, Singlife committed to a sponsorship deal with the couple upon their Olympic qualification.[29]
Awards and nominations
Hee and Jessica Tan were nominated for the 2022 ST Athlete of the Year Award.[30] They were also conferred the Team of the Year (Event) award in the Singapore Sports Awards 2023 by the Singapore National Olympic Council.[31]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[32] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super1000, Super750, Super500, Super300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super100.[33]
↑ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
Notes
↑ Chinese:許永凱; pinyin:Xǔ Yǒngkǎi. In this Chinese name, the family name is Hee. In accordance with custom, the Western-style name is Terry Hee and the Chinese-style name is Hee Yong Kai.
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