It came in the fourth and final set of her round of 64 match when her coach, Ricardo Oliveria, called ‘time out’ to tell Melissa a few heartfelt words on behalf of her nation.

“It was a really nice moment in the fourth set,” she said.

“I’d taken an early lead and she clawed her way back when Ricardo called time out and said to me: ‘I’m proud of you what you’ve done (and wiped away tears).”

Paris is Melissa’s third and final Olympic campaign. She gave everything against the 20-year-old Korean who has won several world tour events

The 34-year-old Australian started well and took an early six-nil lead in the first set, which she treated as a victory of sorts.

“I enjoyed getting out there to play against such a quality athlete; she’s number eight in the world and I’m number 250,” Melissa said

“I was just trying to win as many points as I could, and in the end, I surprised myself; I was able to be semi-competitive with her. To get a cheeky six-nil lead was quite nice.”

It didn’t take long for Shin to kick into gear and find the angles required to close in on the plucky Aussie. With her father in the arena, Melissa refused to relinquish her lead without a fight. The Korean won the first set 14-12. 

The crowd paused from its wild show of support for the French player on an adjacent court to offer a roar of approval for Melissa’s tenacity.

With Shin humming on all cylinders, she accounted for Tapper 11-4, 11-3, in the next two sets.

But in what was ultimately the fourth and final set of the match, Tapper gritted her teeth and rocketed to a 4-0 advantage before Shin launched a counter- attack that shut the contest down.   

Melissa, the only Australian to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics, will now focus on the Women’s Team event, which starts at the Paris Arena on Tuesday 6 August.
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Earlier, Australian Min Hyung Jee lost to world top 15 player Nina Mittelham of Germany, in straight games 0-4 (7-11, 9-11, 7-11, 8-11)
While the Australian played some impressive shots, she couldn’t hide her disappointment at losing her Olympic debut.

“I could probably have done more than I did today. “It didn’t go well,” the 37-year-old from Brisbane said. 

Nicholas Lum is only 19 and a member of Table Tennis Australia’s ‘Generation Next’, to gain valuable experience in Paris. 

He was seeded to beat Brazilian Vitor Ishiy in their round of 64 clash but it wasn’t to be for the disappointed Australian who also went down in straight games 0-4 (7-11, 5-11, 7-11, 6-11).

“It wasn’t my best match,” Nicholas conceded. 

“It’s hard to put in words. I’m very disappointed.”

Nicolas will now look ahead to the Men’s Teams event on Monday 5 August and Min to the Women’s Team event on Tuesday 6 August.

Daniel Lane