Well worth it: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah won RM158,500 for their victory in the Arctic Open.
PETALING JAYA: It was an early Deepavali gift for shuttler M. Thinaah as she combined superbly with Pearly Tan to capture the Arctic Open women’s doubles title in Vantaa, Finland yesterday.
Just a week before the Festival of Lights on Oct 20, Pearly-Thinaah delivered a commanding performance to beat Japan’s world No. 6 Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi 21-7, 21-9 in a one-sided final that lasted only 32 minutes.
The world No. 2 pair pocketed US$37,525 (RM158,500) for the win.
The 27-year-old Thinaah will not get to celebrate Deepavali with her family back home as she continues her European stint with Pearly – competing in the Denmark Open starting tomorrow in Odense, followed by the French Open from Oct 21-26 in Cesson-Sevigne but her sacrifice has paid dividends.
Pearly-Thinaah were expected to face a stern test against Iwanaga-Nakanishi but were in scintillating form from start to finish, securing their sixth win over the Japanese duo in eight meetings.
Pearly-Thinaah also made amends in style after falling short in last year’s final to China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Women’s doubles coach Rosman Razak lauded Thinaah’s dedication, acknowledging the personal sacrifices she continues to make for the national cause.
“This sacrifice is part and parcel of the life of an athlete. Not just athletes but also their families and the support staff. Players are used to this as they are professionals,” said Rosman.
He was pleased with Pearly-Thinaah’s performance after guiding them to their second title of the year following their victory in the Thailand Open in May.
“The key to Pearly-Thinaah’s win today (yesterday) was their belief in each other which has always been strong,” said Rosman.
“They played calmly and followed the strategy we planned well.
“The placement of their shots were of high quality.
“They will have two days to recover before the Denmark Open and I hope they can maintain this momentum.”
Pearly-Thinaah have enjoyed a great year so far, finishing second in the World Championships, Japan Open, Indonesian Open and Indonesian Masters.
The duo will be keen to continue their good form in Denmark and move closer to their dream of becoming the world No. 1 pair for the first time.
Meanwhile, there was no double joy for Malaysia when former world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik went down fighting to England’s Ben Lane-Sean Vendy 18-21, 27-25, 17-21 in the men’s doubles final.
