SEPANG: Shuttlers Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah hope their historic World Championships silver will inspire other women athletes to chase their dreams.
Pearly-Thinaah won Malaysia’s first ever women’s doubles medal at the world meet in Paris.
The world No. 2 pair beat Japan’s Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida before going down fighting to China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning in the final on Sunday (Aug 31).
Pearly-Thinaah hopes their breakthrough will spur female athletes in the country.
“I’m very happy and proud that we could bring women’s doubles to the eyes of the world,” said Pearly at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Tuesday (Sept 2).
“There are no regrets. We really gave everything and worked hard for this medal. Winning this medal is something big, and we hope it can open the eyes of many women athletes out there,” said Thinaah.
They need to believe that as long as you work hard and enjoy the process, anything is possible,” she added.
Pearly-Thinaah continue to prove themselves as one of the best women’s doubles pairs Malaysia has ever produced, if not the best.
They also made history by becoming the first Malaysians to reach the women’s doubles semi-finals at the Olympics in Paris last year.
Pearly-Thinaah were the first Malaysians to win the women’s doubles crown at the French Open in 2022.
This year, they were only the second Malaysian women’s pair to reach world No. 2 after Chin Eei Hui and Wong Pei Tty, who went on to become world No. 1 in 2009.
Pearly-Thinaah moved up the rankings after a fine year, making it into five finals overall, clinching the Thailand Open title, and finishing runners-up in the Japan Open, Indonesian Open, Indonesian Masters, and the world meet.
After narrowly missing out on gold in Paris, the duo have vowed to learn from the defeat to Shengshu and Tan Ning and return stronger.
“Entering the tournament as second seeds, there were expectations on us,” said Thinaah.
“Nobody wants to lose. This is something we need to learn from.”
Pearly said: “The journey is still long for me and Thinaah. We won’t stay here and we will fight again.”
