MALAYSIAN women’s doubles shuttlers, Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, went down tamely to Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida in the Paris Olympic Games bronze medal match at the Adidas Arena in Port de la Chapelle today.
The match ended with a score of 21-11, 21-11, highlighting the dominance of the Japanese players, who have now won 10 out of their 11 encounters against the Malaysian pair.
Pearly-Thinaah’s only win over Matsuyama-Shida came in the quarter-finals of the 2022 French Open.
Despite the loss, Pearly-Thinaah made history by becoming the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to reach the semi-finals, surpassing the previous record set by Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei, who reached the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro 2016.
During the match, Pearly and Thinaah committed numerous unforced errors against their Japanese opponents, showing signs of fatigue and inconsistency following their hard-fought semi-final defeat to world No. 1 Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan of China a day earlier.
Credit must be given to Matsuyama-Shida for their impressive defensive and attacking skills. The Japanese pair had narrowly lost to the Chinese pair, world No. 3 Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning, in the semi-finals with a score of 16-21, 19-21.
Although victory over Pearly-Thinaah seemed relatively straightforward, both Matsuyama and Shida were visibly relieved and emotional after securing the winning point, with Matsuyama shedding tears of joy.
Malaysia’s hopes for a medal now rest on the shoulders of the men’s doubles pair of Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and men’s singles player Lee Zii Jia.
Aaron-Soh will compete against Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarop Rasmussen of Denmark for the bronze medal in the third-fouth match playoff while Zii Jia, who ousted Anders Antonsen of Denmark 21-17, 21-15 in the quarter-finals, will face Thailand world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-finals.
If Zii Jia triumphs over Kunlavut, he will compete in the final against the winner of the other semi-final match between Denmark’s Victor Axelsen and India’s Lakshya Sen.
Story and pix by K.H. Ong