In control: Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida returning a shot to South Korea’s Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee-yong during their women’s doubles match at the Adidas Arena yesterday. — AFP
PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah have only won twice against Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in 15 meetings – a daunting record that could strike fear in any pair.
But the high-flying Pearly-Thinaah refused to be intimidated.
In fact, they are fired up to continue their historic run in the World Championships after becoming the first Malaysians to reach the women’s doubles semi-finals yesterday, and thus assuring a bronze medal.
The duo showed their class by dispatching world No. 19 Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva-Stefani Stoeva 21-15, 21-10 in just 32 minutes at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle in Paris.
Pearly-Thinaah still remember the painful defeat to Matsuyama-Shida at the same venue last year during the Olympic Games bronze-medal playoff.
While Pearly-Thinaah can draw confidence from their commanding win in their most recent clash at the Japan Open last month (21-13, 21-11), the Japanese duo will be extra motivated as this will be their final tournament together before parting ways.
Pearly believes patience is the key to beating Matsuyama-Shida, who are known for their strong defence and stamina.
“Consistency and patience will be the key,” said Pearly in a post-match interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“Now we keep supporting each other and communicate after every point, so that’s the main key for us to play well,” said Pearly.
“We hope to keep this up and we’ll see how it goes.
“We will discuss with each other and the coaches on what we are still lacking and prepare well for tomorrow’s (today) match.”
On securing the bronze, Pearly-Thinaah summed it up as a meaningful result.
They came close to reaching the semi-finals in the last edition in 2023 in Copenhagen only to be narrowly denied by China’s Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu.
“We are very happy with this achievement,” said Thinaah.
“In the last world meet, we were so near, yet so far. So, today (yesterday), to manage to win this match really means a lot to the both of us.
“There were times during the match when we were not patient enough but thankfully, we kept reminding each other on what we had to do, so that really helped.”
