Bronze Medal Dream Ends For Pearly Thinaah

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Pearly Tan consoles her partner M Thinaah after the pair were defeated in the bronze medal match at the Olympics women’s badminton doubles event today. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s hopes of a historic Olympic bronze medal in the women’s badminton doubles event were dashed today when Pearly Tan-M Thinaah were defeated 21-11, 21-11 by Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
Although Pearly-Thinaah were defeated, they had already created history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach an Olympic semi-final.
The Malaysian pair had only beaten their Japanese rivals once before at the 2022 French Open. The pair made it out of the group of death and were the only ones to take a game off China’s top pair.
The Japanese pair got off to a quick 7-3 lead in the first game before extending their advantage to 11-4. Pearly-Thinaah won the next three points, but their opponents went on a strong run and opened an eight-point cushion at 16-8 , before closing out the game.
The second game saw the Japanese opening up a five-point lead at 8-3 and 11-6. The Japanese led 15-9 before going on a four-point streak to set the score at 19-9.
Although Pearly-Thinaah won the next two points, they were unable to mount a comeback.
In yesterday’s semi-final, world No 13 pair Pearly-Thinaah put on a game fight against China’s world No 1 pair of Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan before being defeated by 12-21, 21-18, 15-21.
It was their second defeat to their opponents at the Paris Olympics having lost 20-22, 16-21 at the group stage opener last week.
Their fighting spirit led youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh to hail their 
spirit of excellence in their pursuit of Olympic glory. - FMT

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