PETALING JAYA: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah may have walked away from Paris without the world crown, but they left with renewed belief.
The Malaysian pair could not cap their fairytale run at the World Championships with the ultimate prize, but they went down fighting in a thrilling 14-21, 22-20, 17-21 battle against China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning at the Adidas Arena in Paris yesterday.
For Thinaah, the narrow defeat in the World Championships final was still filled with positives, describing the event as the biggest stage after the Olympics.
She added that the campaign had boosted their confidence and would drive them to chase greater heights in future tournaments.
“To be honest, we are very happy that we could reach the final in the World Championships but definitely a bit disappointed that we could not deliver the title,” Thinaah told the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“We did not want to give them easy points and wanted to fight for every point I definitely have to give credit to our opponents as they played very well.
“They pressured us and they were very calm in their shots.”
The Chinese started with ferocity, racing to an 11-7 lead in the opener and shutting out Pearly-Thinaah’s late push to secure the game.
Yet the Malaysians refused to wilt, summoning grit and fire to snatch the second game 22-20 to force a decider.
Pearly-Thinaah pushed their formidable opponents hard in the decider but fell just short in a pulsating 83 minute-battle.
“We definitely did not want to give them easy points and wanted to fight for every point.
“This is something that we can definitely learn from them,” said Thinaah.
“But overall, it’s been a good week here. We will definitely learn from all this and be better. There are a lot of positives to take away especially as this is one of the biggest tournaments other than the Olympics.
“This also boosts our confidence and helps us do better in future tournaments,” added Thinaah.
It was Pearly-Thinaah’s 10th defeat to Shengshu-Tan Ning in 13 meetings.
The Chinese duo also denied the Malaysians in the finals in the Indonesian Open in June and Japan Open last month.
Pearly-Thinaah can still be proud of their efforts after becoming the first Malaysians to win a women’s doubles medal in the world meet.
The achievement was well deserved in what has been a fine year for the pair.
Pearly-Thinaah reached their fifth final of the year in Paris after capturing the Thailand Open title and coming second in the Indonesian Masters to add to their runners-up finish in Japan and Indonesia.
RESULTS
Semi-finals
Men’s singles: Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Victor Lai (Can) 13-21, 22-20, 21-16; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Anders Antonsen (Den) 21-17, 21-15.
Men’s doubles: Seo Seung-jae-Kim Won-ho (Kor) bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) 21-12, 21-3; Chen Boyang-Liu Yi (Chn) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty 21-19, 18-21, 21-12.
Women’s singles: Chen Yufei (Chn) bt An Se-young (Kor) 21-15, 21-17.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) 21-15, 21-4.
Final
Women’s singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Chen Yufei (Chn) 21-9-21-13.
Mixed doubles: Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei (Mas) bt Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) 21-15, 21-14.
Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah (Mas) 21-14, 20-22, 21-17.
