Badminton: Yeo Jia Min scores 2nd win at Paris Olympics to top group, makes it to last 16

Singapore shuttler Yeo Jia Min has punched her ticket to the last 16 at the 2024 Paris Olympics after topping her group with a second successive win on Tuesday (Jul. 30).

At the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, she breezed past Mauritius’ 93rd-ranked Kate Foo Kune 21-12, 21-6 in just 26 minutes.

Yeo, 25, is currently ranked 20th in the world.

Yeo had previously defeated Dorsa Yavarivafa from the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) in under 22 minutes on Jul. 27.

First S'porean shuttler in last-16 for over a decade

With her two group stage wins, Yeo has become the first Singaporean shuttler to progress to the Olympics knockout stages since Gu Juan, who achieved the feat in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

This is Yeo's second time representing Singapore at the Olympics.

It is the furthest that Yeo has progressed in the tournament.

Yeo is likely to face Japan’s 10th-ranked Aya Ohori, on Aug. 1 for a place in the quarter-finals.

Ohori has come out on top in their last three head-to-head matches.

Other S'pore shuttlers at the Paris Olympics

Meanwhile, Singapore's former badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew scored his first win at the Paris Olympics with a 2-0 victory over Czech men's singles opponent Jan Louda on Jul. 29.

He will face El Salvador's Uriel Canjura on Aug. 1 at 2:20am (Singapore time).

If Loh wins, he will advance to the round of 16, which is further than his Tokyo 2020 run.

Shuttlers Terry Hee and Jessica Tan ended their debut Olympics campaign with a 2-0 win over U.S. shuttlers Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai on Jul. 29.

Unfortunately, the win was not enough for them to progress to the last 16 as they finished third out of four teams in their group.

Top image from sgolympics / Instagram