KUALA LUMPUR – Heartbreak for Malaysia’s top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah as they missed their chance to reach the final of the Paris Olympics.
They were defeated in a thrilling three-set semi-final match by China’s Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan.
Ranked 12th in the world, the Malaysians fought valiantly but ultimately fell 12-21, 21-18, 15-21 to the world’s number one opponent at the Porte De La Chapelle Arena in Paris.
Today’s defeat also marked the debutants’ second straight loss to their Chinese opponents in the multisport event, following a narrow 17-21, 20-22 defeat in the group stage.
Despite the setback, there is still hope for Pearly and Thinaah to bring home a bronze medal.
They are set to face either China’s Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning or Japan’s Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida tomorrow.
Speaking to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in their post-match interview, Thinaah said that their main focus now is to end her Olympic campaign with a bronze medal.
“We mainly wanted to focus on ourselves and wanted to enjoy every moment that we had on court and that’s one thing that we won’t regret. It wasn’t an easy route for us since the group stage.
“Many didn’t believe in us at first, hence we decided to believe in each other. We are really happy to come this far but we still have another match to go. We want to stay focused and give our best,” she said.
Meanwhile, Pearly admitted that she and her partner have a lot more to learn from their world number one opponents after their defeat today.
“We were continuously giving away several points to them and lost our focus which led them to take advantage.
“Mentally they were very stronger and that’s why they are world number one and we need to learn from them,” said Pearly.
Building on their solid performances in the group stage, Pearly and Thinaah delivered a stunning upset in the quarter-finals yesterday, defeating South Korea’s world number 10 duo and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists, Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong, with a commanding 21-12, 21-13 victory.
Vivian Hoo and Woon Khe Wei were the only other Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the quarter-final stage, but they were defeated by eventual gold medallists Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan at Rio de Janeiro 2016. – August 2, 2024