Jess Pugh: 'We gave it our all' in doubles semi-final defeat

The 21-year-old - appearing in her maiden Games on the Gold Coast - came up against the strong Malaysian pair of Vivian Hoo and Mei Kuan Chow in their quarter-final and were humbled 21-11, 21-6.

And Pugh, who picked up a bronze medal in the team event, insists although her performances out here have been encouraging, she simply came up against a better opponent.

"They were a strong pair, with a lot of experience, so it was always going to be hard," said Pugh. "We gave it everything but they were too solid.

"That was always going to be a difficult match. The Malaysians, even though they are not seeded here, they don’t usually play together but they are very strong and one of them has been at the top of the women’s doubles game for some time. Credit to them, they went out and played well.

"We struggled to get into the game a little bit, but we gave it our all and that’s all we can do."

A multiple European junior medallist, Pugh is certainly going to benefit from her experiences out here in Australia, much like teammate Lauren Smith did in Glasgow four years ago.

And she is hopeful that some of the lessons learned on the Gold Coast courts will help her and Birch to kick on at international tournaments.

"There has been a lot that we have gained in these Games," she added. "The medal was great and was part of a great team performance.

We have gained a lot of experience, played some top players and we are both quite young so we can reflect on these games and see where we can move forward."

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