KUALA LUMPUR – National women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah failed to make it past the quarterfinals at the ongoing World Championships after they lost to China’s Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu today.
The world number 11 Malaysians suffered heartbreak when they lost 21-17, 17-21, 21-19 to China’s world number six duo after a 1 hour and 15 minutes battle at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
This made them the first pair to reach the quarterfinal stage after Amelia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho, who had a similar feat in 2015.
“We are angry and disappointed with ourselves for making the same mistakes while we were leading, which cost us our defeat,” said Pearly during an interview with Astro Arena.
“Thanks to everyone for all the support back home, and we need to take this as a lesson and come back stronger in our upcoming championships,” added Pearly, while Thinaah was heartbroken and unable to speak.
Similarly, mixed doubles pair Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei saw their impressive run at the World Championships end in heartbreak with a defeat in the quarterfinals to Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino.
The world number 14 pair were no match for the 2022 Tokyo World Championships runners-up as they were tamed 11-21, 11-21 in a match that lasted only 27 minutes.
“I don’t think we played our best game today, and we struggled to match our opponent’s skills throughout the game,” said Tang Jie.
“We will watch and analyse today’s game playback to learn from this game if we happen to meet this pair again,” said Ee Wei.
The debutants defeated the French pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue, who recently won a silver medal in the 2023 European Games, to qualify for today’s quarterfinals. – August 25, 2023