Lauren Smith insists she and Chloe Birch should be proud of their Olympic efforts despite a group stage exit in Tokyo.

The women’s doubles pair went down 21-19 21-16 to Malaysia’s Lee Meng Yean and Chow Mei Kuan, meaning their Games debut as a duo ends at the first hurdle.

Carlisle’s Smith, whose mixed doubles campaign with Marcus Ellis continues, insists there were positives to take from their experience - even before stepping off the plane. 

“The hardest thing for us was getting here,” said Smith.

“It was a really long process - 12 months turned into 24 months, and for us, just getting here was a huge achievement and we should hold our heads high. 

“We maybe didn't find our top level here, but at the same time, we were up against tough opponents and we didn't ever give up the fight.”

The pairs were only separated by three places in the world rankings and the Brits had prevailed in their only previous meeting at the Spain Masters in February 2020. 

But disappointingly Smith and Birch were unable to lay a glove on Lee and Chow in their third and final group game.

They led only once, in the second game, and went down in 41 minutes.  

“I think it was patchy,” said Smith, who is able to train full-time and benefit from world class facilities, technology, coaching and support teams thanks to National Lottery funding – which has never been more important in getting her to the start line after a turbulent year.

“I think we had a lot of good runs of executing tactics we wanted to, we fought really hard, but we also had too many patches of easy mistakes, giving them cheap points.

“They're good players - you can't afford to do that against them. 

“We know if we could've been a bit more solid, a bit more consistent that we would have got more easy errors from them eventually, but unfortunately we just couldn't keep that level where we needed to be.” 

Smith and Birch still have plenty to look forward to in 2021 with the World Championships slated for Spain in December. 

“Maybe we haven't found our rhythm in this hall, but it's been a good experience I think," she said.

“There’s loads to take from an event like this.”

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