PETALING JAYA: A heartbreak defeat but historic achievement nonetheless for Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah as they fell short of taking home a medal from the Paris Olympics.
The women’s doubles pair lost to world No. 4 Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 11-21, 11-21 in a 41-minute bronze medal match at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle on Saturday (August 3).
The two-time world champions Matsuyama-Shida controlled the game from the start, leaving no room for the world No. 12 Malaysians to mount a comeback.
Pearly-Thinaah tried to put up a better fight in the second game, but it was not enough to stop the Japanese charge for the bronze medal.
An emotional Pearly said they gave their best.
"My heart aches with this defeat, we really wanted to win a medal for Malaysia, but credit to our opponents who played well," said Pearly.
However, Pearly-Thinaah’s run at the Olympics will go down in history as they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the semi-finals, where they went down fighting to China’s Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan.
