Moving up: M. Thinaah (left) and Pearly Tan continue to bring honour to the country. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
PETALING JAYA: It may not be an exaggeration to say that Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are on the way to becoming one of Malaysia’s greatest women’s doubles pair after they claimed the Japan Masters title in Kumamoto yesterday.
The match saw Pearly-Thinaah come from behind in both games to defeat the home duo Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 22-20, 21-19 in 54 minutes at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
With their fine run, it will not be too long before they are hailed as Malaysia’s GOAT (greatest of all time) in the women’s doubles.
Pearly, who knows there’s still much more to be accomplished, thanked the fans in Kumamoto.
“I feel very touched with all the fans here that support us and thank you very much,” said Pearly.
Added Thinaah: “We are really happy that you keep supporting us since day one. We really appreciate it.”
The world No. 2 pair have built a huge fan base over the years, but this year, they have stepped up to underline their consistency and strong performance.
The victory in Japan is their third title this year, after winning the Thailand Open and Arctic Open.
In total, they have six titles together, starting with the Swiss Open in 2021. A year later, they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to win the French Open, and they went on to claim last year’s Hong Kong Open.
In addition, they were runners-up at the World Championships in Tokyo last August – a feat that no other women pair had done before. In fact, no women pair had gone beyond the quarter-finals in a world meet.
By comparison, Malaysia’s previous top women’s doubles pairs in the modern era have also enjoyed notable successes with Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui winning four Superseries titles (now part of the World Tour), including the Denmark Open and World Superseries Masters Finals in 2008, followed by the Indonesia Open and another Masters Finals title in 2009.
Pei Tty-Eei Hui also claimed a Grand Prix title at the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold in 2012.
Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei secured two Grand Prix titles, both at the New Zealand Open in 2013 and 2017.
Chow Mei Kuan-Lee Meng Yuen won a World Tour title at the Syed Modi International in 2018, along with two International Challenge titles at the Malaysia International in 2012 and 2016. Others who have tasted success include Ang Li Peng, Lim Pek Siah, Chor Hooi Yee, Amelia Anscelly and Soong Fie Cho.
Women’s doubles head coach Rosman Razak praised Pearly and Thinaah for their performance, saying it had been a challenging week for the pair in Kumamoto.
He noted that their opponents, Iwanaga and Nakanishi, had adjusted their playing style compared with their last meeting in Finland, where Pearly-Thinaah had easily defeated the Japanese pair in the final.
“Congratulations to Pearly-Thinaah. It has been a challenging week. Neither of them was at their best, but their determination to push through every challenge deserves praise,” he said.
“Today, their opponents played very well, starting with a counter-attack strategy. Early on, Pearly and Thinaah focused heavily on attacking, which affected their defensive game.
“Long rallies were inevitable, and it was their physical and mental strength that ultimately secured the victory,” said Rosman.
Following their recent success, it is highly likely that Pearly-Thinaah will skip the Australian Open, starting tomorrow.
