Garron Palmer (right) and Geordine Henry lost 21- 8, 21-11 to Chayut Triyachart and Lei Yao.

GLASGOW, Scotland:

Jamaica's badminton players got a tough lesson from their Singapore counterparts at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow yesterday, but the team is taking everything in stride, encouraged enough for the rest of the competition.

Playing their Pool E assignment in mixed team play competition, the Jamaicans went down 0-5, winning only one set in the series.

Garron Palmer and Geordine Henry lost 21- 8, 21-11 to Chayut Triyachart and Lei Yao in their mixed doubles contest; Gareth Henry went down 21-11,

21-11 to Derek Wong; Ruth Williams lost 21-7, 21-5 to Xiaoyu Liang before teaming up with Geordine Henry, going down 21-4, 21-8 to Vanessa Neo and Mingtian Fu.

Gareth Henry and Palmer were more competitive in their clash against the pair of Danny Chrisnanta and Terry Hee 21-14, 14-21, 21-14. Nonetheless, Henry is looking forward to the rest of the team match play competition and believes there are several positives to take from the clash against the powerful Singapore team.

"We came out with a positive mind frame, we were a bit nervous but after we got over that we had some good rallies so I can say that we will be much sharper for the next game," Palmer said.

That next game is today against a Norfolk Islands team that the Jamaicans should find a little less ruthless, with a 1p.m. (7 a.m. Jamaica time) serve off time.

"I'm quite excited actually, I can't wait. We got over the toughest hurdle in this group and got some good rallies in so we are feeling good about our chances against the others in the group,"he added. "I'm expecting us to beat South Africa and Norfolk Island."

"I'm glad we played Singapore first because they are the toughest team in the group. We are expecting them to win the group so it's good that we get to face our toughest opponents first, get a feel for it and later on against the other teams we can be more comfortable," Palmer said.