2014–2021: SEA Games bronzes, national title Tan won her first senior title at the 2014
Singapore International tournament in the mixed doubles event partnered with
Terry Hee. Tan was part of the national team that won the women's team bronze medals at the
2015,
2017,
2019 and
2021 SEA Games. In April of 2017, Tan reached a career-high ranking of 15 with Hee. She competed at the
2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Tan then split up with Hee, as he had to undergo his mandatory 2-year national service in 2019. Tan then won the mixed doubles
national championships with her partner,
Danny Bawa Chrisnanta.
2022: First World Tour Super 500 title, Commonwealth Games success In January, Tan won her first Super 500 title with Hee, at the
India Open, defeating the Malaysian pairing of
Chen Tang Jie and
Peck Yen Wei in the final, 21–15, 21–18 in straight games. At the
2022 Commonwealth Games in August, Tan was part of the
Singaporean team who won the bronze medal in the
mixed team events as the Singaporean team defeated England 3–0 at the bronze medal playoff. Tan had also competed at the
individual mixed doubles event with her husband Hee. Their opponents in the final were England's
Marcus Ellis and
Lauren Smith, who were playing on home soil and were ranked higher than them. Tan and Hee defeated them in two straight sets, 21–16, 21–15, winning a historic gold medal and Singapore's first Commonwealth Games badminton mixed doubles gold.
2023–2024: Roller coaster journey to Paris Olympics After crowning as the Commonwealth Games mixed-double champion in 2022, the forms of Hee and Tan dipped. The duo suffered early-round exits in their subsequent tournaments in 2022 and won just three out of nine matches in their first six tournaments of 2023. The 2024 Paris Olympics qualification period began on May 1, 2023 but a personal tragedy affected their playing with Tan's mother died in February 2023, three months before the Road to Paris qualifying period. The pair did not give up, even though their chances of qualifying for the Olympics were slim. They won only one of their next nine matches. The turnaround came after they started playing in lower-tier tournaments to boost confidence. They clinched second place in the
Abu Dhabi Masters (BWF World Tour 100) in October and won the
Iris Open, a BWF international challenge tournament in November. They ended 2023 with another two silverware from BWF World Tour 100 events: winning the
Guwahati Masters and making the final of
Odisha Masters. The haul of points from these tournaments significantly improved their chance to qualify for the Olympics. In 2024, Hee and Tan started the year strong by making it into the semi-final of
Malaysia Open, a BWF World Tour 1000 event. However, since then, second-round appearances were their best in all subsequent tournaments until the end of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification period. They ranked 18th on the BWF Race to Paris rankings on April 30, 2024, and thus missed out on the automatic qualification spots. There were only 16 slots for the doubles at the Paris Olympics. Only the first 13 eligible pairs were allocated slots via the Race to Paris rankings, while the remaining three spots were given to the continental champions of America, Africa and Oceania. Fortunately, Hee and Tan received a lifeline after Australia, which had qualified in four badminton events, elected to take up the slots in the women’s singles and women’s doubles, thus freeing up a mixed doubles spot for Hee and Tan, the next eligible pair in the rankings. They became the first local-born mixed doubles duo from Singapore to qualify for the Olympic Games. In the
badminton mixed-double events in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hee and Tan were assigned to Group D together with Feng Yanzhe / Huang Dongping of China (2nd seed), Chen Tang Jie / Toh Ee Wei from Malaysia, and the American pair of Vinson Chiu / Jennie Gai. Hee and Tan played Chen and Toh in the opening match but lost 23–21 and 21–12. Up against China’s world no. 2 pair Feng and Huang next, the duo could not overcome their rivals, losing 21-13, 21-17, thus missing out on the quarter-finals Hee and Tan ended their Olympics campaign with a win though as they beat United States’ Chiu and Gai, 21–17, 21–12 in the last group fixture.
2024–2025: Post-Olympics to retirement Post-Olympics, Tan and Hee continued to compete in major World Tour tournaments, but all ended in 1st-round exits. While competing in the
Macau Open, where they were seeded second, their campaign was abruptly halted in the first round against Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Chan (Chinese Taipei). Tan suffered a hamstring injury during the second set, and the duo had to retire. It was announced in November 2024 that Hee would form a new partnership with
Jin Yujia, as Tan had not fully recovered from her injuries and was not sufficiently competition-fit. Finally, Tan announced her retirement from competitive badminton on 11 April 2025, citing injuries and the decision to pursue her studies in sports management. == Personal life ==