Malaysia's Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah celebrate after defeating Japan's Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in the World Championships semi-final in Paris. - AFP
PETALING: Doubles shuttlers Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah hugged each other. Tears flowed.
The world No. 3 Pearly-Thinaah continued their historic run in the World Championships by storming into the final in a fantastic fashion.
On the eve of the National Day, Pearly-Thinaah fought brilliantly to come from behind to beat Japan’s world No. 3 Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida 14-21, 21-13, 21-12 in 68 minutes at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris on Saturday (Aug 30).
It was only their third win in 16 meetings against the Japanese pair.
And it was indeed another huge milestone for Malaysia after they had become the first women’s doubles duo from the country to reach the semi-finals of the world meet a day earlier.
Now, Pearly-Thinaah will be out to crown their superb run with the title to hand Malaysia a perfect National Day gift.
Standing in their way in the final on Sunday (Aug 31) are China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
