PETALING JAYA: The statistics are against Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, but their hearts are in the right place as they bid to upset China’s world No. 1 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning.
Both pairs will cross swords in the semi-finals of the Asian Games at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium today.
Yesterday, Pearly-Thinaah pulled off a sensational 21-18, 21-9 win over India’s Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly in the quarter-finals to assure themselves of at least a bronze medal.
It was the first time in 12 years that Malaysia have won a women’s doubles medal at the Asian Games, with Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei the last pair to achieve the feat at the 2014 Incheon edition.
The Chinese pair oozed class in their 21-15, 21-15 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Pei-shan-Hung En-tzu in another quarter-final match.
On paper, Liu Shengshu, 22, and Tan Ning, 23, are the favourites, having won 10 of their 13 meetings against the Malaysians.
In fact, Pearly-Thinaah’s three wins came at the 2024 Hong Kong Open, 2023 Japan Open and 2023 Asia Mixed Team Championships, and they have not beaten the Chinese pair since.
Their most painful and most recent defeat came in the World Championships final last year.
Pearly, though, is keeping her eyes on the prize.
"Of course, everyone wants to reach the final, but we are taking it one match at a time,” Pearly told Bernama.
"Tomorrow’s semi-final won’t be easy, and we remain the underdogs, as always.
"We are carrying the feelings and momentum we’ve built since the first match into every game."
Pearly’s arrival in the semi-finals is certainly welcome news after she had been struggling with injury and self-confidence.
But Pearly, 26, and Thinaah, 28, can become Malaysia’s first women’s doubles pair to reach an Asian Games final if they can keep their motivation high and get their tactics right against the gung-ho Chinese pair.
Thinaah is just happy that they have come this far after a challenging few months.
"Over the past few weeks, we’ve just focused on ourselves and each other,” said Thinaah.
"We want to give our best and have no regrets," she added.
Men's singles: Yoo Tae-bin (Kor) bt Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) 12-21, 21-5, 21-11; Loh Kean Yew (Sin) bt Jonatan Christie (Ina) 21-14, 21-19; Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) 16-21, 21-10, 21-13; Alwi Farhan (Ina) bt Chou Tien-chen (Tpe) 21-10, 21-11.
Men's doubles: Fajar Alfian-Shohibul Fikri (Ina) bt Ki Dong-ju-Kang Min-hyuk (Kor) 21-14, 20-22, 21-14; Kim Won-ho-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Hiroki Nishi-Kakeru Kumagai (Jpn) 15-21, 21-17, 21-15; Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang (Chn) bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani (Mas) 21-13, 21-17; Daniel Marthin-Leo Rolly (Ina) bt Dinh Hoang Nguyen-Dinh Manh Tran (Vie) 21-6, 21-10.
Women's singles: Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Unnati Hooda (Ind) 21-16, 14-21, 21-17; An Se-young (Kor) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-8, 21-9; Wang Zhiyi (Chn) bt Lin Hsiang-ti (Tpe) 21-7, 21-12; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt P.V. Sindhu (Ind) 11-21, 21-18, 21-10.
Women's doubles: Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah bt (Mas) bt Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly (Ind) 21-18, 21-9; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Hsieh Pei-shan-Hung En-tzu (Tpe) 21-15, 21-15; Kie Nakanishi-Rin Uesaka (Jpn) bt Yeung Nga Ting-Yeung Pui Lam (Hkg) 21-15, 19-21, 21-15; Lee So-hee-Baek Ha-na (Kor) bt Lin Jhih-yun-Hsu Yin-hui (Tpe) 22-20, 21-17.
Mixed doubles: Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Kim Jae-hyun-Jang Ha-jeong (Kor) 21-13, 21-15; Ye Hong-wei-Nicole Gonzales Chan (Tpe) 21-18, 21-14; Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping (Chn) bt Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto (Ind) 21-14, 18-21, 21-18; Amri Syahnawi-Nita Violina (Ina) bt Jeong Na-eun-Jo Sung-hyun (Kor) 21-9, 12-21, 21-19.
