Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah made history as the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the Olympic semi-finals. However, they ultimately lost to China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan with scores of 12-21, 21-18, 15-21.
The world No. 12 fell 11-21, 11-21 to Japan’s world No. 4 Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in 41 minutes at the bronze medal decider. Matsuyama and Shida were the favorites, having beaten the Malaysians nine times in their last 10 meetings. Their strong defense and dangerous attacks proved their superiority in the match.
Expectations were not high for them, as they were placed in the toughest draw during group stage. They competed against China’s top-ranked Qingchen-Yifan, Japan’s former two-time world champion Matsumoto-Nagahara, and Indonesia’s world No. 9 Rahayu-Ramadhanti.
Still, Pearly and Thinaah beat the Japanese and Indonesians to reach the quarter-finals. They then secured an impressive victory over South Korea’s Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong in the last eight. Furthermore, they were the only pair to force a deciding game against Qingchen-Yifan in the competition.
Although missing out on the bronze was disappointing, the pair vowed to take positives from their performance in their first Olympics.
Rexy: Pearly-Thinaah Went Beyond Expectations
Academy Badminton Malaysia (BAM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky praised Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah for their incredible fighting spirit. Their performance at the Paris Olympics was widely recognized for its resilience and determination.
“We saw them fight incredibly hard, they proved that they can carry a huge responsibility (Malaysia’s medal hopes) on their shoulders,” said Rexy
“They pushed China’s world No. 1 (Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan) to the limit before losing in the group stage and were still able to finish runners-up in their group. They went on to upset South Korea’s world No. 10 (Kim So Yeong-Kong Hee Yong) in the quarterfinals which was not easy as they (So Yeong-Hee Yong) were bronze medallists in Tokyo. They showed the youngsters how they carried out their responsibilities (as national players) when people had doubted their ability to go far in the competition.”
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