PETALING JAYA: National women doubles pair Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah hugged each other in sheer joy.
The duo have booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics in style by beating Indonesia's world No. 9 Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Ramadhanti 21-18, 21-9 in their last Group A match at Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle on Tuesday (Jan 30).
Pearly-Thinaah needed to win in straight games to make it into the last eight and rose to the occasion.
The victory meant that the world No. 13 pair managed to overtake Japan's two-time former world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara to second spot in the toughest group in the competition after the latter had earlier lost 16-21, 15-21 to China's world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan.
Qingchen-Yifan topped the group as champions.
Both Pearly and Thinaah admitted that they felt the pressure before the match and needed time to settle down.
"We already knew the results of the other match in our group and were quite nervous because this is a must win for the both of us," said Thinaah in a post match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
"We have been quite stressed out since yesterday as we were thinking about today's game.
"I think this (the pressure) was even worse than our first two matches. This was a new experience for both of us.
"In the beginning (when the match started), it was quite tough for us. We threw points that we should not have.
"But after that we just supported each other and we slowly got back our momentum and confidence."
Pearly credited Thinaah for supporting her and helping her overcome her nerves.
"For this match I think, we not only played against our opponents but also against ourselves," said Pearly.
"It's really quite tough for us mentally as we had to be more consistent and be more calm.
"I, especially, was quite nervous and was feeling the pressure as I really wanted to win the match but Thinaah calmed me down and supported me."
Pearly-Thinaah are only the second Malaysian women's doubles pair to make it into the last eight in the Olympics since Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
The former will now take on one of the group winners in the quarter-finals. A fresh draw will be conducted after all the group matches are completed later on Tuesday.
