The Singapore 2010 competition is over for Australian badminton players Tara Pilven and Boris Ma but they still have 10 days worth of Youth Olympic experience to be gained.

The Victorian pair completed their final group match today and despite their losses both athletes are taking heart at producing their best performances of the tournament.

Pilven was keen to follow on from her win last night and went point for point with Finland’s Airi Mikkela but in the crucial points at the end of each set she couldn’t seal the deal going down 18-21 16-21.

“I played a lot better today and started feeling comfortable out there,” an upbeat Pilven said.

“You can always play better and of course I wanted to win,” she said. “I would like to be playing more matches in the tournament but I did okay.”

The 17-year-old from Ballarat finishes the YOG with one win and two losses.

Ma, suffered his third loss today in an extremely difficult group yet was buoyed by his ability to regroup after yesterday and put up a good fight against the medal contender from Chinese Taipei 5-21 12-21.

Australian coach Stuart Brehaut was pleased Ma finished the tournament well.

“Boris had good consistency today and was a lot steadier. Considering who he was playing he can be happy with that,” Brehaut said.

Pilven plans on shopping, watching the finals and doing some sightseeing.

Brehaut is letting them eat what they want for a few days and then has plans for them to get more training experience at the Singapore Sports School before the closing ceremony on the 26^th of August. There is also numerous education and cultural experiences at the Youth Olympic Village.

Andrew Reid
AOC