After the heartbreak of blowing a strong position in their quest for the quarterfinals, Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai were brave enough to acknowledge their own shortcomings which had caused the downfall.

Having seen seven match points come and go against Sara Thygesen/Maiken Fruergaard – it would have been the Thais’ second group win if they’d converted – Kititharakul and Prajongjai couldn’t hold off the rearguard action from the Danes who stole the match from a desperate position in the third. The 20-22 23-21 24-22 result was the closest of Paris 2024 so far, and certainly the most nerve-wracking.

“There’s nothing to say because we really regret it,” said Kititharakul, barely able to speak in the face of bitter disappointment. “We could have won in two games but we gave the chance to them, so we have to accept that and fight for tomorrow’s match. We have to fight, tomorrow it will be hard for us, but we will have to fight.”

Her partner Prajongjai looked equally disconsolate but assumed responsibility for the loss: “I pressured myself, and I wasn’t focused 100 per cent on the gameplan. When we were leading and they started to come closer, I was just not confident. Really disappointed, we had a big lead and we couldn’t get that one point.”

The Danes’ victory was their second of the group and virtually assured them of a quarterfinals place.

“This was one of the craziest matches, with the atmosphere and the cheering,” said Thygesen. “It was intense … mentally hard, it was back and forth all the time. Crazy, intense match.

“Sometimes we are best when we are behind. I wasn’t that nervous, actually. I was more nervous in the beginning than in the end. We were good at telling each other what to do, to stay focused, one rally at a time, and try to keep going, and they also started to get nervous.”

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