By Paul Martin at La Chapelle Arena

KIRSTY Gilmour hailed her best Olympic experience yet despite a third successive group stage exit.

The Bellshill badminton star was beaten in straight sets by China’s He Bing Jiao in her winner-takes-all Group N clash, going down 22-24 8-21 at La Chapelle Arena.

The 30-year-old suffered the same fate in Rio and Tokyo but leaves Paris with a healthier sense of perspective which she hopes will stand her in good stead as she targets a fourth Games in LA.

“I’m really happy with the strides I’ve made,” she said.

“We decided not to put the weight of the world on this Olympic Games.

“My sister’s a midwife, she delivers babies for a living, and I’m there like ‘I spun my net shots a bit tight’. It’s so insignificant in the bigger picture – but it’s important to me, of course.

“This is by far the most prepared, confident, physically capable, mentally capable I’ve ever been at an Olympics.

“I’ve levelled up each time and this is the best badminton I’ve ever played at an Olympics. Maybe I’ll go for another one.”

Gilmour started confidently and led for the majority of the first set but the turning point came when her opponent, who has won the last four meetings between the two, saved four set points at 20-16 down.

The world number nine went on to take the opener 24-22 and turned the screw in the second set, winning it 21-8 to advance to the last 16.

“Coming into it, we decided to wipe the slate clean and play against a faceless opponent,” added Gilmour, one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme.

“I did that pretty well. I was delighted with how that first set went up until 20(-16).

“I was disappointed I couldn’t dominate the net like I had in the first set. Her overheads got pretty punchy and I struggled.”

Gilmour’s defeat means there will be no British involvement in the knockout stages but the Scot believes there are reasons to be optimistic.

“I’m still on the go and we have some really good young ones coming through,” she said.

“I’m going to take a good break, go on holiday with my girlfriend and then I’ll come back and hit the ground running.”

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