PETALING JAYA: Shuttlers Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are still hungry for more despite already achieving some accolades on the world stage.
They have collected medals at almost every major stage and the national women’s doubles pair believe there is still plenty left to chase, with the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics among their biggest goals.
Their bronze at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games added another major medal to their collection and helped salvage some pride for Malaysia’s badminton team after a disappointing campaign.
Pearly-Thinaah were naturally disappointed not to go further, but they believe their performances in Aichi showed they are moving in the right direction with two years to go before the Los Angeles Games.
For Pearly, however, the immediate priority is to stay fit after having to manage several injury problems this year.
"We still don’t have a gold yet," Pearly said with a laugh.
"This tournament only comes once every four years, so we don’t know what will happen next time. Of course, we are looking forward to the Olympics.
"But before that, there are still many tournaments where we have to give our best, especially to qualify for the Olympics.
"So we don’t want to think too far ahead. For now, the most important thing is for both of us to stay healthy and hopefully keep this momentum going,” said Pearly after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Wednesday.
Thinaah also made it clear that the pair are far from satisfied.
"I think there is still a lot that we are aiming for and we have other goals as well.
"We are very happy to win this medal, but like I said, there are still many tournaments and matches ahead and we also have our own targets," said Thinaah.
Pearly-Thinaah, who have previously reached a career-high world No. 2, have already achieved several firsts for Malaysian women’s doubles.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the semi-finals.
Although they missed out on a medal, they returned to Paris a year later and reached the World Championships final, becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to finish runners-up at the tournament.
They also won SEA Games gold in Thailand that same year, adding to the Commonwealth Games gold they captured in 2022.
With their Asian Games campaign over, Pearly-Thinaah will now return to the World Tour, beginning with the Denmark Open from Oct 13-18 before heading to the French Open from Oct 20-25.
