Singapore's Olympic badminton team received a warm welcome from fellow badminton players, fans, students and government ministers when they returned home from the Greek capital of Athens on Tuesday.

The Singapore team, which included Ronald Susilo, Li Li and Jiang Yanmei, missed narrowly a medal when Susilo was defeated in the quarter-finals by Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.

Singapore Badminton Association President Lim Swee Say voiced his confidence in local players, saying that "if we believe in ourselves and give our best all the time, in fact, we can even beat the best in the world, so I think this can be a big confidence booster not just for our players but many of our younger players as well."

Singapore's acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan also expressed his satisfaction with the performance by the Singapore team.

Overall the Singapore team did better than expected, he said, adding that the point now is to get up and try again and prepare for the next Olympics, said the minister.