Stefanie Tan lost her semi-final in the tennis singles competition at the SEA Games on Thursday (Aug 24), according to Channel NewsAsia.
Tan lost 6-1, 6-1 to top seed LuksikaKumkhum of Thailand at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (August 24).
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As there is no play-off for third and fourth placing, the losing semi-finalists both earned bronze medals, making Tan the first female Singaporean athlete to a medal in tennis in 34 years.
The other semi-final was between Filipino Anna Clarice Patrimonio and Cambodia's Andrea Ka.
Singapore's last SEA Games tennis medal came in 1995 in Chiang Mai, when the men's team won bronze. The Republic's last individual medallist in the sport is Lim Phi Lan, who clinched the women's singles silver at the 1983 edition in Singapore, as reported by the Strait Times.
Tan turned professional last year and has been competing regularly, but admitted she still felt "a little bit of nerves" entering Wednesday's match.
"It's quite a big deal to get a medal for tennis as we haven't done so in a long time, so I really wanted to do it and I felt a bit of pressure but I managed to calm down," she had said.
"In general, it was just about playing each point and not thinking about the occasion."
Tan, is ranked No. 540 on the Women's Tennis Association circuit.
The Singaporeans maintained their dominance in swimming though, with the Quah siblings contributing to the Republic's medal haul. Quah Ting Wen, 25, took gold in the 100m freestyle in a new Games record of 55.74s. Her brother Zheng Wen, 20, added a gold in the 200m backstroke, while debutant 17-year-old Francis Fong took silver. Danny Yeo, 27, added a bronze in the 200m freestyle.
Sisters Ting Wen and 16-year-old Jing Wen, Rachel Tseng, 19, and Christie Chue, 17, won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay with a time of 8:10.41 – breaking the previous Games record of 8:12.95.
