PETALING JAYA: Women's doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah agonisingly missed out on creating history in the All-England after seeing their brave run end in the quarter-finals on Friday (March 15).
No Malaysian women's doubles pair had ever reached the last four in the prestigious tournament and Pearly-Thinaah came close to ending the long wait.
The world No. 15 fought hard against Japan's world No. 11 Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto before narrowly losing 21-11, 18-21, 18-21 in 73 minutes at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Pearly-Thinaah made a bright start in the match and comfortably won the first game but the tenacious Japanese pair refused to give up and dug in to win the next two games.
It was the former's second consecutive defeat to the latter after they also came second best in the Japan Masters last November.
