KUALA LUMPUR – A pall of gloom descended on the Malaysian badminton camp at the ongoing Indonesia Masters when top women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah crashed out in the semi-finals today.
The world number six Malaysian duo suffered a second straight semi-final heartbreak when they lost 14-21, 19-21 to Japan’s world number 11 pair of Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota after a 51-minute battle at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta.
Although the three-time World Championships silver medallists controlled the first game, Pearly-Thinaah did well to lead for the most part in the second game until 15-15 but failed to take the match into a rubber game.
In tomorrow’s final, Fukushima-Hirota will take on the unseeded Liu Sheng Shu-Zhang Shu Xian after the China pair stunned Thailand’s fourth-seeded Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai 21-11, 21-9 in the other semi-final.
The sixth-seeded Pearly-Thinaah had earlier downed China’s Li Wen Mei-Liu Xuan Xuan 21-10, 21-12 in the quarter-finals.
Pearly-Thinaah, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallists, have yet to win a title since their 2022 French Open success last October, having suffered a similar semi-final exit in last weekend’s India Open when they lost to Japan’s world number two pair of Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida.
Pearly-Thinaah were the country’s sole survivors in the Super 500 Indonesia Masters tournament after men’s doubles pair Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, runners-up in last week’s India Open, and mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie crashed out in the quarter-finals yesterday. – Bernama, January 28, 2023
