Hard-fought battle: Pearly Tan (left) returning a shot while M. Thinaah looks on during their quarter-final match against China’s world No. 6 Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu. — Badminton Photo
PETALING JAYA: Don’t fear them.
Coach Rexy Mainaky kept repeating those words but women’s doubles pairs Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah allowed their past losses to China’s world No. 6 Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu to tear them apart at the end.
And as a result, Pearly-Thinaah let slip a golden chance to become the first women’s pair to win a medal at the World Championships yesterday.
The duo were in the driving seat to claim their first win over Shuxian-Zheng Yu when they won the first game and led 11-5 in the second but just could not finish the job and ended up losing 21-17, 17-21, 19-21 in a closely fought quarter-final match at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
Doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky was understandably sad after his charges missed out on creating history as the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the last four at the world meet.
“I won’t say I’m disappointed but I’m so, so sad,” lamented Rexy.
“It’s such a pity that they could not win after holding such a big lead.
“I reminded them at the interval when they were leading 11-5 that the Chinese pair will surely play as if they had nothing to lose and will go all out, and I told them to be ready.
“But they had lost to their opponents after leading before and started having negative thoughts about that defeat rather than just think about how to get the points (to win).
“They started playing with fear and it cost them the match.”
World No. 11 Pearly-Thinaah had also squandered a 17-14 lead in the third game to lose to the Chinese pair in the Australian Open in Sydney recently.
The defeat at that time seemed to play on the former’s minds and they could not overcome their stubborn opponents yet again.
Pearly-Thinaah had also lost to Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu in the Malaysian Open and World Tour Finals last year.
Yesterday, it was the Malaysians who started aggressively and led narrowly 11-10 in the first game.
It was neck and neck until 17-17 before Pearly-Thinaah did very well to score four points consecutively to wrap up the game.
The win buoyed the pair and they looked like running away with the match in the second game before the Chinese pair staged a remarkable comeback.
In the third game, it was again very close before Shuxian and Zheng Yu held their nerves at 19-19 to come away with the win which reduced the Malaysians to tears.
RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
Women’s doubles: Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 21-19, 21-19; Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (Ina) bt Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) 21-18, 13-21, 21-10; Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) 17-21, 21-17, 21-19.
Mixed doubles: Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) bt Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) 21-12, 21-16; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) 21-10, 21-6; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 21-11, 21-11.
THIRD ROUND
Men’s singles: H.S. Prannoy (Ind) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-18, 15-21, 21-19; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) 21-13, 21-19; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Lee Zii Jia (Mas) 21-18, 21-17; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Lakshya Sen (Ind) 21-14, 16-21, 21-13; Wang Tzu-wei (Tpe) bt Li Shifeng (Chn) 21-15, 21-14; Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 21-7, 14-21, 22-20; Kenta Nishimoto (Jpn) bt Kanta Tsuneyama (Jpn) 21-19, 21-17; Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) 21-11, 21-4.
Men’s doubles: Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin (Tpe) 21-16, 21-18; Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) 21-19, 13-21, 21-15; Mohd Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) bt He Jiting-Zhou Haodong (Chn) 21-15, 21-10; Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi (Chn) bt Lu Ching-yao-Yang Po-han (Tpe) 24-22, 21-16; Shohibul Fikri-Bagas Maulana (Ina) bt Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) 22-20, 21-18; Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun (Mas) 21-16, 14-21, 21-17; Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (Mas) 21-15, 21-10; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Leo Rolly-Daniel Marthin (Ina) 21-15, 19-21, 21-9.
Women’s singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Mia Blichfeldt (Den) 21-12, 21-13; Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) 21-18, 21-17; Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-19, 21-16; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt He Bingjiao (Chn) 13-21, 21-7, 21-14; Carolina Marin (Spa) bt Thet Thuzar (Mya) 21-10, 21-18; Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Han Yue (Chn) 13-21, 21-19, 21-11; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) w.o.; An Se-young (Kor) bt Zhang Beiwen (US) 21-19, 21-13.
Women’s doubles: Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) bt Febriana Dwipuji-Amalia Cahaya (Ina) 21-14, 17-21, 21-19; Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) bt Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam (Hkg) 21-19, 21-11; Yuki Fukushima Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) bt Li Wenmei-Liu Xuanxuan (Chn) 21-7, 21-15; Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti (Ina) bt Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee (Kor) 21-12, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) bt Ye Hong-wei-Lee Chia-hsin (Tpe) 18-21, 22-20, 21-17; Mathias Christiansen-Alexandra Boje (Den) bt Feng Yanzhe-Huang-Dongping (Chn) 21-15, 21-18; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) 21-14, 21-17.
