Hope for Bronze shattered as Pearly and Thinaah fall short

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s hope for a bronze medal in women’s doubles at the Paris Olympics was dashed yesterday as Pearly Tan and P. Thinaah lost 21-11, 21-11 to the Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.

According to FMT, despite this, the pair made history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles team to reach the Olympic semi-finals.

The Malaysian duo had previously defeated their Japanese rivals only once, at the 2022 French Open.

Nami and Chiharu led 7-3 in the first set before extending their advantage to 11-4. Pearly Tan and P. Thinaah scored three more points, but the Japanese pair strengthened their position to 16-8 and closed the set.

In the second set, Japan took an early lead of 3-0, then went ahead 8-3 and 11-6. The pair advanced to 15-9 and then scored four points to reach 19-9. Although Pearly and Thinaah won the next two points, they failed to recover.

In the semi-finals yesterday, Pearly and Thinaah, who are ranked No. 13 in the world, put up a strong fight before losing to the world No. 1 pair from China, Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, with a score of 12-21, 21-18, 15-21.

This was their second defeat to the same opponents at the Paris Olympics, following their loss 20-22, 16-21 in their group stage opening match last week.