PETALING JAYA: Top national women’s badminton doubles pair Pearly Tan-M Thinaah created history by winning the French Open, becoming the first national women’s pair to clinch the title since its inception in 1908.
The world No 11 pair defeated Japan’s two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara 21-19, 18-21 21-15 in a hard-fought final in Paris tonight.
The Malaysian pair got off to a slow start losing three points in a row but bounced back to take an 11-8 lead during the break. They never gave the Japanese pair much of a chance as they raced to a 18-12 lead.
However, the Japanese pair fought back and narrowed the gap but the Malaysians prevailed 21-19 to win the first game in 16 minutes.
In the second game, Matsumoto- Nagahara won 21-18 in 20 minutes to force a rubber.
It was a shaky start for the Malaysians when their rivals raced to a 6-2 lead but Pearly and Thinaah fought back to level the score at 6-6 in the first 10 minutes. It was a point for point battle with the Malaysians taking the lead at 11-8 during the changeover.
They then raced ahead with confident play to lead 18-12 but the Japanese pair fought back to take three consecutive points. But the Malaysians then went on to take the game and the match at 21-15.
Pearly and Thinaah, who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal, won their first World Tour final this year with tonight’s victory. Their had reached the semi-finals at the Thailand Open (May), Indonesian Masters (June) and Malaysian Masters (July). - FMT
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