KUALA LUMPUR – Badminton fans at the Axiata Arena were treated to a show from national women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah when they defeated Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto, 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 to enter the quarterfinals tomorrow.
The hot topic among the badminton community is the 211-shot rally in the third set when the world number 11 Malaysian duo were leading 16-14.
The rally could be potentially the longest rally ever recorded, as the previous record is believed to be a 195-shot rally which lasted for more than three minutes during the 2022 Korea Open between South Korea’s Baek Ha-na-Lee Yu-rim and China’s Du Yue-Li Wen Mei, according to Indian website DNA India.
With both sides clearly out of breath, the shuttlers battled it out.
But the point eventually went in favour of Pearly-Thinaah, and they managed to close out the match in one hour and 30 minutes.
When asked about the extended rally, Pearly and Thinaah jokingly said they wish to not be put in that situation again.
“Hopefully not again. Both sides prepared well and were exhausted by the end of it, but we were really happy to win the point.
“After that, we felt that we had dealt with the worst, so we just kept pushing even though we were tired, but so were they,” they said.
The pair also admitted that the past few months have been rough for them, but they hope to be on an upward trajectory.
“We have had more downs than ups in the recent months. But after talking to each other and our coaches, we just want to come back stronger since it is the Olympics qualification now,” they added.
The 2022 French Open champions will next face Japan’s Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota in the quarterfinals tomorrow, with their opponents having won three of their past five meetings.
The Japanese duo triumphed at their last meeting at the semifinal stage of last year’s Indonesia Masters. – The Vibes, May 25, 2023
