Nhat Nguyen has "no regrets" about his crucial pool defeat to 10th-seed Wang Tzu-wei - and plans to use the experience representing Ireland in the next two Olympics.
Nguyen, 21, was beaten in three sets in the pair's shoot-out for a badminton quarter-final place in Tokyo.
Having won his first pool game on Monday, Nguyen knew he had to deliver a special performance to beat his opponent from Chinese Taipei and, after losing the first set 21-12, he recovered to claim the tight second set 21-18.
The decider was shaping up to be a real hum-dinger but, at 11-11, Nguyen admits he lost his composure and it proved fatal to his hopes of qualifying from the three-man pool.
The Vietnamese-born 21-year-old Dubliner said: “I’m very proud.
"At 11-all in the third set we were very close and I didn’t handle that situation that well. He wants to attack and I was comfortable in defence so next time in this situation I have to be more the aggressor.
"I have no regrets. I’m looking forward to the future and I can use this experience to my advantage.
“More matches like this will definitely help me. I wanted to leave it all on the court and it felt I left it all on the court, fighting.
"Every point, I didn’t want to give up and I’ll use this for the next two Olympics.
"I wanted to come into this tournament to enjoy it, give it my all and I know if I can do that I can challenge the best in the world. I’ll need more situations like this to take the win next time.
“I want to say a special shout-out to all the support.
"It’s overwhelming and I haven’t had time to reply to all the messages.”
